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Department of Ecology News Release - February 14, 2007
07-021
OLYMPIA – The Department of Ecology (Ecology) will use $1.47 million in federal grants to help local partners return nearly 500 acres of critical and increasingly rare coastal wetland habitat in Jefferson and Whatcom counties back to their natural conditions.
Acquiring and restoring valuable habitat areas is a cornerstone of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s initiative to help recover and preserve Puget Sound.
About 70 percent of the land near the mouths of rivers throughout the Puget Sound region has been converted to residential, commercial and industrial uses. However, these near-shore estuary areas also provide vital nurseries for salmon and other marine life.
“This is a rare opportunity to return these incredibly important areas to their natural condition,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire. “It will take time, money, teamwork and dedication, but partnerships like this will lead to results for the Puget Sound and Hood Canal. Every cent we invest now will bring us closer to my goal of making sure the Sound is swimmable, fishable and diggable for future generations of Washingtonians.”
The Lummi Indian Nation in partnership with Ecology will invest $705,355 to restore and conserve 250 acres of Smuggler’s Slough wetlands in the Nooksack River estuary. The project will restore tidal hydrology and fish access to 7.35 miles of slough and 38 acres of palustrine wetland habitats on and adjacent to the land. The Nooksack estuary is one of the most pristine and undeveloped estuaries in Puget Sound and presents a high potential for protection and restoration.
"We are pleased to work with the Department of Ecology to restore and preserve Nooksack River estuary wetlands,” said Merle Jefferson, Natural Resource Director of the Lummi Indian Business Council. “The project will restore important habitat for fish and wildlife. We also want the project to help address nearshore water quality challenges that threaten treaty protected shellfish harvest rights."
Ecology is working in partnership with the Jefferson Land Trust and the Northwest Watershed Institute to invest $770,000 to acquire 124 acres of Lower Tarboo Creek in the Tarboo-Dabob Bay watershed.
The Tarboo flood plain historically was one of the most productive salmon habitats in the watershed. The partnership will restore 74 acres of wetlands, a half-mile of Tarboo Creek and one-half mile of tributary channels to improve salmon spawning and rearing areas, increase wildlife habitat, plant native vegetation and control non-native species.
“We are happy to have an opportunity to work in cooperation with the agencies and landowners to protect and restore Tarboo Creek’s wetlands” said Peter Bahls, Director of Northwest Watershed Institute, a nonprofit science-based organization that has been working with landowners to restore salmon habitat in the Tarboo watershed. “This project will help provide long-term protection for the water quality entering Tarboo-Dabob Bay, one of the state’s most important shellfish growing areas and a nursery ground for salmon, crab, and Hood Canal shrimp”.
The $1.45 million grants are being provided by the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program. The program was established by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 1990 and is designed to help states acquire, restore, and enhance coastal wetlands. The program has provided about $165 million in grant monies to 25 coastal states and one U.S. territory involving the restoration of 200,000 acres of coastal wetland ecosystems.
For more information about protecting and restoring Puget Sound and Hood Canal, see Ecology’s website: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/puget_sound/index.html.
For more information about Ecology’s work in protecting shorelands statewide, see Ecology’s website: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/shorelan.html.
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Contact: Shannon Sullivan, public information officer, 360-738-6247; mobile 360-303-9262
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
