NOAA AWARDS $100,000 TO COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO
TO REMOVE INVASIVE PLANT SPECIES

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a $100,000 grant to the County of Sacramento to remove invasive plants as part of a multi-year project to restore fishery habitat along the American River. The project is funded by the Community-based Restoration Program within the NOAA Fisheries Service, Restoration Center.

This year’s funding supports a project that builds on the success of a prior three-year effort aimed to eradicate the ten most invasive species in the American River Parkway, a 23 mile, 5,000 acre park along the American River in Sacramento, Calif. The project involves the use of proven invasive plant removal techniques, as well as strategically revegetating areas with native plants and trees.

The County of Sacramento will partner with community volunteers to remove the invasive plant species, improving habitat for Chinook salmon and threatened steelhead. This project will restore riparian habitat on the lower American River, which is a tributary to the Sacramento River and the San Francisco Bay. Approximately 382 acres of low floodplain and in-stream habitat will be restored to sustainable native riparian forests.

“The entire community should be commended for getting behind this effort to improve and restore fisheries habitat in their own backyards," said Rodney R. McInnis, regional administrator for the southwest region of NOAA Fisheries Service. “This restoration project is an excellent example of combining volunteer work with local and federal assistance to create conditions suitable for steelhead and Chinook to survive."

“NOAA’s grant will help us realize our investment in our first phase of invasive plant removal by progressing from control to actual eradication, and by funding active riparian restoration to re-establish native species to prevent future invasions,” said Trevor A. Burwell, Ph.D., County of Sacramento, senior natural resource specialist.

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, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, 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.

On the Web:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov/eos.html

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