NOAA 2002-R144
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gordon Helm
10/16/02
NOAA News Releases 2002
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NOAA ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR WASHINGTON STATE HABITAT RESTORATION PROJECTS IN PIERCE, JEFFERSON AND SNOHOMISH COUNTIES

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today announced six grants totaling $280,000 for community-based habitat projects in Washington State to restore marine areas in Pierce, Jefferson and Snohomish counties. Money for the projects comes from the NOAA Restoration Center’s Community-based Restoration Program.

The national program of financial and technical assistance promotes partnerships for community-based activities. Projects restore living marine resources and their habitats and promote stewardship and conservation. Past projects have benefitted salmon and striped bass, marine mammals and turtles, and habitats such as marshes, mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs.

"Grants like this, that depend on local support and that benefit local communities, are at the heart of NOAA's grass-roots work to help wildlife and their habitats," said Bob Lohn, head of the NOAA Fisheries Northwest regional office in Seattle.

The six restoration projects announced today will restore or improve riverbanks and nearby tidal marshes to benefit salmon and other fish and wildlife.

Pierce County

  • A $50,000 grant to the Friends of the Hylebos Wetlands to help restore 78 acres of streamside habitat along the West Branch of Hylebos Creek. The West Branch is the most biologically productive part of Hylebos Creek's three main tributaries. Restoration will include placing large woody debris in the creek, which helps provide cover for young fish; planting native trees and shrubs along the streamside; and stabilizing the creek’s banks.
  • A $30,000 grant to the City of Federal Way to remove a 3.5-foot concrete culvert that is a barrier to fish passage and replace it with a 12-foot pipe on the North Branch of Hylebos Creek. Removing the barrier will open up 40 acres of protected, open forest wetland.

Jefferson County

  • A $60,000 grant to the Northwest Maritime Center to continue nearshore habitat restoration and education. An earlier phase of this project redesigned a condemned dock in Port Townsend as a regional demonstration project for how community docks can minimize harm to nearshore marine habitats. The current grant will help transplant eelgrass in an area previously shaded by the old dock, and will demonstrate the newest underdock lighting techniques that help restore lost habitat. Community volunteers and students will learn about eelgrass restoration and see how dock shading can be minimized to reduce its harmful effects on the environment.

Snohomish County

  • A $65,000 grant to Snohomish County Public Works, Surface Water Management Division to restore salmon habitat in Church Creek, a major tributary to the lower mainstem of the Stillaguamish River. Combined with money from the county’s Clean Water District, the grant will help revegetate streambanks with native plants, remove non-native plants, fence livestock out of streams and remove barriers to fish migration. A local high school will assist by growing the native plants; other students and community groups will help with restoration and monitoring.
  • A $40,000 grant to the Stillaguamish Tribe to help restore the Stillaguamish Old Channel. The grant will help pay for a tidegate to capture tidal inflow from Hatt Slough and flush it out to Port Susan. The grant will also aid in the removal of invasive plants, the restoration of 85 acres of native intertidal vegetation, and fish- and water-quality monitoring.

The NOAA Community-based Restoration Program has been working with communities since 1996 to support habitat restoration projects in salt water, estuary and riverbank areas across the nation. The NOAA funds provide on-the-ground habitat restoration components that offer educational and social benefits to communities and long-term ecological benefits to fishery resources. To date, over 600 projects in 25 states have been completed using NOAA funds and money from national and regional habitat restoration partners.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA fisheries) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat.

To learn more about NOAA fisheries, please visit:

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov.

For more information on the NOAA Community-based Restoration Program, go to:
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration.