Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Lance Winecka and Courtney Pariera spend much of their field time for the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group checking area culverts. This one near Mud Bay presents an obstacle for salmon returning upstream.

Salmon projects compete for state funds

DUGGAN KINNE, FOR THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published October 3, 2001

South Sound salmon enhancement projects are vying for money for their restoration work.

"It's a 50-50 match of state and federal money, and for the next two years we expect to have about $52 million to distribute throughout the state, with about half of it available this current funding cycle," said Brian Abbott, the Salmon Recovery Funding Board project manager for South Puget Sound and the southern Washington coast area. "We'll be evaluating all the projects that come in based on the actual benefit to salmon and the likelihood of each project's success."

Within the past two years, the state has been divided into 62 Water Resource Inventory Areas. WRIA 14 includes 17 especially significant salmon-bearing creeks, from the northwest end of Thurston County to the north end of Mason County, all of which drain into the southern part of Puget Sound.

WRIA 14 is a coordinating body of government agencies, private organizations and individual citizens working together to maintain and improve the quality of the water resources and to enhance salmon.

The Mason County Conservation District is the lead entity for salmon enhancement.

"We act as a go-between for local organizations and individuals who want to do salmon enhancement projects and the state and federal monies available for this kind of restoration work," coordinator Amy Hatch said.

By the end of November, each of the state's 25 lead entities will be sending their proposals to the state's Salmon Recovery Funding Board. This group will decide which projects get funded.

The Squaxin Tribe wants to do a near-shore assessment of all the waters of the west side of Case Inlet, North Bay and several surrounding passages to determine the healthy areas for fish habitat and forage fish, and those areas that are degraded and need to be restored.

Last year, the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group (SPSSEG) got a grant to assess culverts within the WRIA 14 streams to find those that were inhibiting the passage of fish to upstream habitat. This year, they hope to get some money to begin engineering solutions to 10 of the worst situations.

Randy Cravey, who lives on a tributary of Perry Creek, across from Mud Bay, drives over a culvert each day near his home whose downstream end is so far out of the water it prevents fish from traveling any further upstream. This summer, he brought it to the attention of WRIA 14 committee members, and SPSSEG has helped him submit a proposal for its replacement.

"It's bothered me for years. We've watched hundreds of fish each year come that far and go no further," Cravey said. "There's about 25 of us landowners who live out here and this project would be a wonderful way for us to come together and have a real impact on helping fish."

Duggan Kinne is a correspondent for The Olympian.

At a glance

The 17 most diverse salmon-bearing creeks in WRIA 14 include:

- Campbell Creek

- Coffee Creek

- Cranberry Creek

- Deer Creek

- Goldsborough Creek

- Gosnell Creek

- Johns Creek

- Kennedy Creek

- Malaney Creek

- Mill Creek

- Perry Creek

- Schneider Creek

- Shelton Creek

- Sherwood Creek

- Shumocher Creek

- Skookum Creek

- Uncle John Creek

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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