04.21.23

NOAA Awards $59.6 Million to Remove Invasive Green Crabs, Boost Coastal Resilience, Restore Salmon, and Orca Populations in WA

Cantwell-championed funding secured through the Biden-Harris Infrastructure Law & the Inflation Reduction Act goes directly to coastal communities threatened by climate change

WASHINGTON D.C. -- Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell announced more than $59,645,607 in grant funding for 14 conservation projects across the State of Washington from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate-Ready Coasts initiative. The funding for these grants, which was secured through the Biden-Harris Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), were authored and championed by Sen. Cantwell.

“These grants will support 14 transformative conservation projects across the State of Washington from the Columbia River, to Hood Canal, the Nooksack, Nisqually, and Skagit Rivers, and all the way to Willapa Bay and the Olympic Coast. This investment will help make progress on salmon recovery, eel grass beds restoration, and removal of invasive European green crabs, and help communities and Tribes adapt to the impacts of climate change,” said Sen. Cantwell.

The awards announced by NOAA on April 21 include:

Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Projects – funded through the BIL and IRA

1. $9,600,000 for the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group -- Lower Big Quilcene River and Estuary Restoration Program – Moon Valley Reach Construction Phase. These funds will benefit threatened Hood Canal Summer chum, as well as other key fish species including steelhead, coho, pink, fall Chinook, and fall chum. Channelization, dredging, and bank armoring have disconnected the river from its floodplain and confined it to an artificially straight and high-energy channel that frequently floods. Through this project, the river will be reconnected to its entire 140-acre floodplain, eliminating flood hazards within the community of Quilcene. The project will also create highly productive spawning and rearing habitat in a high priority location.

2. $7,500,000 for Lower Columbia Partnership – Lower East Fork Lewis Floodplain Reclamation. These funds will help restore habitat along three miles of the lower East Fork Lewis River that have been severely impacted by legacy gravel mining and residential development. This river has been identified as a critical watershed for recovery for Lower Columbia River Chinook salmon, which is critical for endangered Southern resident orcas. The project will restore and reconnect a formerly-mined floodplain, remove levees, and restore habitat in and along streams.

3. $4,200,000 for Lummi Nation – South Fork Nooksack River Restoration Project. These funds will advance three high-priority salmon habitat restoration projects along the South Fork Nooksack River. Salmon in the Nooksack River watershed are critically important to the livelihood, culture, and well-being of the Lummi Nation, but degraded habitat has diminished the abundance of several salmon stocks substantially from historical levels. This work will support Endangered Species Act-listed Puget Sound Chinook and steelhead, and benefit endangered Southern resident orcas. The effort will include implementation of two projects and the design of a third. The work will increase flood resilience, improve water quality, and enhance tribal fisheries.

4. $11,600,000 for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife – North Whidbey Chinook and Ecosystem Recovery: Skagit River. These funds will be used to support large-scale restoration in the North Whidbey basin of the Skagit River estuary in Puget Sound, building on more than two decades of NOAA-supported restoration work in the watershed. The scale of restoration of estuary marshes and floodplains will result in better habitat for salmon. The work is expected to reduce flooding on county roadways and tribal lands. Two of the sites are located on Swinomish Indian Tribal Community land with coordination and support of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle Tribes.

5. $12,100,000 for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife – Transformational Chinook Recovery in South Whidbey Basin. These funds will be used to restore 1,200 acres within the South Whidbey Basin of Puget Sound. They will implement seven restoration projects and continue work to develop five future projects. The Whidbey Basin contains Puget Sound’s three biggest salmon producing rivers and nearly 70 percent of its remaining tidal wetlands, which salmon and steelhead rely on for spawning and rearing habitat. While significant as a stand-alone effort, when leveraging the North Whidbey Basin work, the efforts are of a combined scale that will significantly contribute better habitat for threatened Puget Sound Chinook salmon and steelhead. Salmon restoration efforts will also benefit Southern resident orcas.

6. $5,200,000 for Nooksack Indian Tribe – Lower South Fork Nooksack Chinook Recovery. These funds will address priority habitat limiting factors for salmon and steelhead in the South Fork Nooksack River. Declining populations of Chinook salmon and other species have had significant impacts on the Nooksack Tribe’s cultural, subsistence, and commercial fisheries. By increasing habitat complexity and increasing the number of pools in the region to address summer flows, this work will support multiple life stages of salmon and enhance their resilience to climate change. The effort will encompass construction of two projects and the design of a third. The work will help reduce flood risk to the nearby town of Acme through increased water storage and construction of a berm.  

Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Underserved Communities – funded through the BIL and IRA

7. $817,000 for Edmonds College – Restoration for All (R4A). In partnership with the Latino Educational Training Institute and Snohomish Conservation District, Edmonds College will create a bilingual restoration workforce development program to educate and train members of the Latino community. The program will include paid internship opportunities, providing participants with hands-on experience restoring salmon habitat in the Stillaguamish and Snohomish watersheds.

8. $502,000 for Long Live the Kings -- Building Capacity for the Nisqually Indian Tribe to Integrate Habitat Restoration into the Interstate 5 Redesign Planning Process to Reduce Flood Risk and Increase Climate Resilience. These funds will allow Long Live the Kings to build capacity for the Nisqually Indian Tribe to incorporate their vision and voice into restoration in the Nisqually River Delta. They will integrate the Tribe’s priorities for habitat restoration and nature-based solutions to reduce flooding, increase climate resilience, and support salmon. The increased capacity will help ensure the Tribe’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge and vision for habitat restoration is reflected in the replacement of the Interstate 5 bridge.

9. $868,000 for Lummi Nation – Building Capacity to Inventory Eelgrass Habitat on Lummi Nation Tidelands Threatened by Invasion of the European Green Crab. These funds will help the Lummi Nation conduct an assessment to help determine the potential risk that invasive European green crabs pose to eelgrass beds and other important natural resources on Lummi Reservation tidelands. The project will build staff capacity, acquire the necessary equipment and training, and engage indigenous high school and college students to conduct an inventory and fund science and research needed to establish baselines of the current status of eelgrass habitat and European green crabs.

10. $649,000 for the Skagit River System Cooperative – Skagit Estuary Treaty Resource Recovery. These funds will restore estuary habitat to support the recovery of Tribal fisheries in the Skagit River. Tribal members will engage in the development of several projects in the Skagit River watershed, in areas that are a priority for Chinook salmon recovery.

Coastal Zone Management Awards – funded through the BIL and the IRA

11. $3,976,788 for the Washington State Department of Transportation – Graveyard Spit Restoration & Resilience Project. These funds will support the restoration and protection of Graveyard Spit, on the north shore of Willapa Bay, to help protect community infrastructure and cultural resources that are threatened by sea level rise and other coastal hazards. The project will include the rehabilitation and revegetation of the historic barrier dune, the construction of a nature-base cobble berm, and the protection and restoration of backshore marsh and tidal embayment environments.

National Estuarine Research Reserve Award Projects – funded through the BIL and the IRA

12. $2,332,854 for the Washington State Department of Ecology – Padilla Bay Samish Conservation Area Protection Project. These funds will allow Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve to protect and restore 74.5 acres of former and current tidal marsh, as part of a larger overall effort to restore up to 105 acres of tidal marsh to Padilla Bay. The project will increase climate resilience by reducing flood risk for the only road and utility corridor that services the Samish Island community. The project will also restore Tribal cultural connections with the site, which is near an important historical longhouse location.

Marine Debris Projects – funded through the BIL

13. $299,965 for Washington CoastSavers Clean Coast Quest. In partnership with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s Washington CoastSavers, the Washington Sea Grant will use these funds to support annual beach cleanups in Washington state and work with the Quinault Indian Nation to expand cleanup and outreach education efforts, and contribute large marine debris data to MyCoast, a Washington Department of Natural Resources database, to understand the scope of the marine debris issue, encourage stewardship, and provide an informed assessment to be used in future removal efforts.

14. Nationally, NOAA announced $561 million in recommended funding under the BIL and IRA to support the Climate-Ready Coasts Initiative. This overall funding includes $14,999,292 for the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, of which a portion will be allocated to the State of Washington to remove large marine debris from the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary and Neah Bay, in partnership with the Makah Tribe and the Quileute Tribe.

The State of Washington may also benefit from two competitive grant programs for the removal of abandoned vessels and fishing traps. NOAA announced $10,000,000 for the BoatU.S. Foundation for grants to remove abandoned and derelict vessels and $8,000,000 for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science for grants to remove derelict fishing traps.

Throughout her time in the Senate, Sen. Cantwell has been a staunch advocate of protecting and strengthening critical salmon populations. As chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Sen. Cantwell fought to secure a historic $2.855 billion investment in salmon and ecosystem restoration programs, as well as tens of billions of dollars allocated for water infrastructure in the BIL. Sen. Cantwell continued to deliver on investments for coastal communities and climate resilience by securing an additional $2.6 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act last August.

###