Grant signed to support salmon habitats and prevent erosion

The Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) has authorized Executive Director Marc Daily to sign a grant contract with the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office supporting salmon habitat recovery lead entity activities for the next two years.

At the TRPC meeting held Friday, July 7, Amy Hatch-Winecka, coordinator at Water Resource Inventory Area 13 (WRIA 13), explained that the grant contract enables various activities, including facilitating collaboration, coordination, solicitation, and evaluating projects, partner engagement, and community outreach, project database maintenance, and collaboration across Puget Sound.

TRPC has been the fiscal agent for the contract since 2018.

Hatch-Winecka said that Washington State took a unique approach to the recovery of the species by involving the local communities and local experts who have a deep understanding of the watershed and its needs.

Hatch-Winecka emphasized that the state created lead entities to facilitate conversations based on science and involve community input to determine where salmon habitat recovery and conservation projects should take place.

Map showing the grant's projects.

WRIA 13 has community and technical collaboration within its lead entity structure.

• Citizen Committee integrates social and cultural values, education, and outreach potential into projects and guiding principles.
• The Technical Committee combines on-the-ground experience with studies to develop projects and formulate guiding principles.

For this year, the committee considered five projects, two of which are “above the funding line.”

Upper Deschutes Restoration final design and permitting  centers around the upper sections of the Deschutes River, encompassing a 10-mile stretch of the main river and extending eight miles into its tributaries.

The project's primary objective is to devise habitat restoration components that would address the erosive nature of the river.

To achieve this, Hatch-Winecka mentioned that the project aims to introduce bank vegetation and incorporate a substantial amount of wood that would slow down the water flow and mitigate erosion.

She added that the woods would shelter small fish during high water flow periods and discourage premature saltwater migration.

The Deschutes tributaries private fish barrier replacement project addresses fish barriers, which continues Thurston County's ongoing culvert restoration efforts.

The project prioritizes Spurgeon Creek, which has undersized culverts and hinders fish passage, and Silver Springs at Monarch Sculpture Park, wherein a small pedestrian bridge affects flow dynamics.