NOAA AWARDS $275,000 TO TROUT UNLIMITED

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a $275,000 grant to Trout Unlimited as part of a multi-project cooperative partnership to restore coastal and river fisheries habitat throughout the coastal United States. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The grant supports a three-year partnership between Trout Unlimited and the NOAA Restoration Center for habitat restoration projects that benefit commercial fisheries resources and recreational sportfish. The partnership will engage citizens in local habitat restoration projects that benefit cold-water fisheries, such as placement of wood in spawning streams and removal of out-dated dams.

“The continued partnership between NOAA and Trout Unlimited demonstrates both organizations' commitment to restoring fisheries habitat,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “These habitat restoration efforts fit into our model of ecosystem-based management, and promote local stewardship of the habitats that sustain our nation’s fishery resources.”

This continuing partnership advances activities that began in 2001. NOAA and Trout Unlimited collaborate to implement restoration projects on a watershed scale as well as through Trout Unlimited’s Embrace-A-Stream program which funds Trout Unlimited chapters that are implementing restoration projects locally. Embrace-A-Stream projects have been funded in nine states, while projects on a watershed scale have been implemented directly by Trout Unlimited in Maine and California.

“Our partnership with NOAA is providing great benefits for coastal river habitats and the conservation of Atlantic and Pacific salmon. The restoration of salmon is a national priority and the NOAA/TU effort has been a very effective vehicle for involving local communities in a united effort to bring back these fish. By directly involving coastal communities in habitat conservation, we’re building habitat and fisheries that will last,” said Joe McGurrin, Trout Unlimited director of resources.

The NOAA Restoration Center Community-based Restoration Program is a financial and technical assistance program that promotes strong partnerships at the national, regional and local level to restore fisheries habitat. NOAA CRP works with organizations and government to support locally-driven habitat restoration projects in marine, estuarine and riparian areas. NOAA CRP funds on-the-ground habitat restoration projects that (1) offer educational and social benefits for citizens and their communities, and (2) provide long-term ecological benefits for fishery resources. Since 1996, more than 900 projects in 26 states have been implemented using NOAA funding and leveraged funding from national and regional habitat restoration partners.

Each year, NOAA awards approximately $900 million in grants to members of the academic, scientific, and business communities to assist the agency in fulfilling its mission to study the Earth’s natural systems in order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property, and provide decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 35 years.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources.

Trout Unlimited is North America’s leading coldwater fisheries conservation organization, dedicated to the conservation, protection and restoration of trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. The organization has more than 130,000 members in 450 chapters in North America.

On the Web:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

Community-based Restoration Program: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration/