Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board Press Release 12/13/22 | For more information contact: Dave Hecker [email protected] Nicole Jordan [email protected] 360-319-1365 |
Methow Valley, WA – Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation (MSRF) was awarded $4,794,000 in Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) funding to implement restoration actions in the Methow River Sugar Reach at 4 project areas between RM 41.25 to 46.5. The total project cost estimate is $7,386,511 and MSRF is seeking match funding from Department of Ecology’s Floodplain by Design program along with match from Bonneville Power Administration programmatic (BPA). Sugar (combines Sugar Left and Sugar Right subproject areas), Eagle Rocks, and WA Department of Fish and Wildlife. The goal of restoration actions is to expand peripheral and transitional habitat, increase instream structural complexity, and improve natural function within the reach to benefit ESA-listed Spring Chinook and Steelhead. Grant funds will be used to address anthropogenic features including levees, culverts, placed fill, remnant dam features, and bank armoring, and to implement actions to restore river process needed to increase side channel and floodplain connections, in-channel and side-channel complexity, and riparian plantings to provide rearing and refuge habitat.
The Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board serves as the lead entity coordinator for SRFB and works to support the local organizations that submit project proposals each year. Earlier this year, the Upper Columbia Region received almost $2.5 million for use in the annual SRFB grant round. The region was then alerted to an additional $5 million that would fund a fall 2022 grant round for one large cap project (over $5 million). Over the past 20 years, this annual funding has established a restoration economy in the region, creating an estimated 2565 jobs and generating $315 million in economic activity.
MSRF will begin seeking to identify interested construction contractors in January 2023. MSRF will schedule site walk-through opportunities for interested contractors in the spring and/or summer of 2023. Prospective contractors can contact Jessica Goldberg ([email protected]) for more information and to schedule site review. Construction will occur in 2024 and 2025, though early coordination by construction contractors is recommended for prequalification.
For the full press release from the WA State Salmon Recovery Board: https://rco.wa.gov/salmon-and-orca-recovery-grants-awarded/
For more information on the UCSRB visit ucsrb.org.
