The Chronicle

The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board has awarded $14.6 million in grants for projects to restore salmon habitat in the state.

The board provided funding for 77 projects in 26 counties statewide, which will be used to remove barriers in streams, increase salmon habitat and facilitate habitat conservation, according to a press release from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office.

Lewis County received $31,040 to design a project to remove a barrier to coho migration in the Van Ornum Creek. It will entail removing a 4-food corrugated metal pipe that carries the creek under Bunker Creek Road and which blocks 66 percent of the fish due to the speed at which water passes through it.

Much larger grants were awarded to Thurston, Pacific and Grays Harbor counties.

These include $232,908 for Thurston County for conservation efforts on Frye Cove Creek and the Lower Henderson Inlet habitat, restoration of shoreline along Henderson Inlet and designing how to remove a fish barrier on Hunter Point Road.

Pacific County was awarded $1,024,474 to design an off-channel fish passage and enhance salmon habitat in Hungry Harbor near Long Beach. Included in the county’s funding was $599,638 directed to the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to enhance the Lower South Fork of Grays River by installing logjams and other restoration efforts.

The Pacific County Anglers have also been awarded $238,884 of the county funding to completely restore Green Creek, a tributary to the Willapa River.

Grays Harbor County received $509,493 to remove barriers to fish migration in Taylor Creek southeast of Elma, design restoration plans for the Middle Fork Hoquiam River, and remove a barrier to fish passage in the North River under the C-400 road south of Vista.

The Quinault Indian Nation received $198,645 of the county’s funding for two projects. These include the design of a pair of fish barriers in Halbert Creek, a tributary to the Moclips River, as well as funding to survey and treat some 2,555 acres of invasive knotweed plants in the lower Quinault River floodplain. Knotweed grows aggressively, choking out native plants.