Five Snoqualmie Watershed restoration projects get $170,000

As part of the regional effort to protect watershed health and recover salmon populations, the King Conservation District (KCD) in conjunction with the Snoqualmie Watershed Forum has approved five grants totaling more than $170,000 for restoration and stewardship projects in the Snoqualmie Watershed.

The Snoqualmie Watershed Forum annually allocates a portion of the KCD funds to habitat protection, restoration and stewardship projects in the Snoqualmie Valley through a competitive grant process. The money comes from a county-wide, $10-per-parcel assessment that supports the activities of the KCD, as well as habitat and stewardship projects recommended by King County's three watershed forums.

The approved projects include:

• The City of North Bend will improve 1,000 linear feet of a stormwater channel; construct 2,770 square feet of new wetland and enhance a total of 24,646 square feet of existing wetland to improve water quality and create habitat.
• Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust will enhance three acres of riparian habitat and forested wetland along the Raging River.
• Stilly Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force will lead a local partnership to enhance riparian forest along 2,500 feet of the mid-mainstem Snoqualmie River on the Stillwater Wildlife Area.
• Wild Fish Conservancy will complete a 2006 pump-passage monitoring study and provide recommendations about the value of Hidrostal pumps for both farmers and fish.
• Stewardship Partners will conduct a targeted campaign for the Salmon-Safe certification program that promotes Snoqualmie Valley farms in the Seattle metropolitan area.

Government entities and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply to the Snoqualmie Watershed Forum for funding during its annual grant round. Priority is given to projects or programs that promote chinook and bull trout recovery and projects that address impediments to fish passage and survival. The Forum and the Conservation District also offer smaller grants to local landowners wishing to implement habitat improvement projects on their lands. The next round for both forms of funding begins in early 2008.

For more information about the projects, grant applications or the Snoqualmie Watershed Forum go to: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/snoqualmie. For more information about the King Conservation District go to: http://www.kingcd.org/.

This release is also posted on the Snoqualmie Watershed Forum Web site, at http://dnr.metrokc.gov/snoqualmie