New Grants Program for Fish and Farms

The Future for Farmers and Fish in the Puget Sound Region is Getting Brighter

The Puget Sound salmon recovery strategy makes supporting farmers a vital element of the plan to bring salmon back. Farmers, environmentalists, and governments are working together to assure that actions on private farms and small forests that improve and protect salmon habitat are encouraged in a way that enhances the farm’s economic future. At the same time, salmon and other wildlife will benefit from both continued conservation stewardship on farmlands and avoidance of fragmented, and increasingly developed watersheds.

Shared Strategy with help from farmers in several watersheds created the “Pioneers in Conservation” grants program to help fulfill this vision by providing some early financial support for salmon recovery projects that protect or restore salmon habitat on agricultural and small family forest lands. The “Pioneers in Conservation” grants program is designed to help farmers and small forest landowners provide on-the-ground habitat restoration and protection benefits for salmon, such as water quality, in-stream or riparian habitat, marine shore lands, or in-stream flows, while strengthening the ongoing farm-salmon partnerships that have emerged throughout Puget Sound's watersheds.  

This month the first round of Pioneers in Conservation grants were announced, and over $400,000 in new grant funds were awarded to six groundbreaking conservation projects from around the Sound. The Nooksack Tribe, Whatcom County Conservation District, Stewardship Partners, Clallam Conservation District, Skagit River Cooperative and Drainage District #13 all received funds for projects that provide long-term benefits for both farms and fish, and recognize the need for both agriculture and salmon to prosper if both are to survive.

“This project (Drainage District 13 tide gate and restoration) creates a great community partnership between farmers, environmentalists, Tribes, and others who care about both salmon and farming,” said Dale Reiner, a Snohomish County farmer. “By helping both farms and salmon, it shows how, rather than being the problem, viable, successful farms are a necessary solution for restoring salmon runs.”

Innovative Conservation Projects Receive Funding

Bertrand Creek Levee Project - $71,000
The Nooksack Tribe will use the grant finds to purchase a conservation easement to widen the floodplain of Bertrand Creek and restore natural channel migration processes as part of a larger effort involving levee setbacks and riparian plantings. The project will create important new fish habitat while also making the levee more secure, allowing the farmer to be able to count on having dry fields during the flood season.

Snoqualmie “Salmon Safe” Farm Habitat Restoration Project - $68,000
A series of Stewardship Partners projects will use grant funds to restore and enhance over three miles of riparian habitat, improve connectivity between the Snoqualmie River and an off-channel habitat area, stabilize stream banks, and remove a fish barrier as part of the "Salmon-Safe" certification program. “Salmon-Safe” certification helps farmers improve the market for their products.

California Creek Rehabilitation Project - $32,200
The Whatcom Conservation District will use the funding grant to improve water quality, enhance instream and riparian habitat, and improve fish access along California Creek by installing livestock exclusion fencing, removing three culverts, planting native vegetation, and constructing a bridge to replace a degraded stream crossing. The improvements will benefit salmon while helping farmers with livestock management, access, and stream stability. 

Dungeness River Irrigation Water Conservation Project - $99,190
The Conservation District will use the funds to improve water quality and increase in-stream flows in the Dungeness River by treating contaminated drainage at a site that employs fungus to treat contaminated water, and by converting two open irrigation ditches to buried pipelines. 

By burying the pipelines, livestock access will be eliminated, farmers will benefit from increased water use efficiencies while leaving more water in the river for fish. This project makes good on a previous agreement between the farming community and salmon recovery planners to reduce water use out of the over-appropriated Dungeness River.

Drainage District 13 Tidegate and Restoration Project- $60,900
The Snohomish County Drainage District will use grant funding to replace the Swan Trail Slough tide gate and pump with an intermediate system, increasing outflows and improving water quality; the District will also enhance riparian habitat by removing invasive species and planting native vegetation.  Salmon habitat will be improved, and farmers will enjoy better drainage in the agricultural areas served by the District.

Skagit Drainage and Fish Initiative - $80,625
Grant funding will be used to help establish agreements between Drainage Districts and The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to allow districts to maintain drainage infrastructure while protecting fish from maintenance activities. Funding will also be utilized to improve instream and riparian habitat by implementing specific provisions of the Drainage District Agreements. The Agreement sets up workable standards for farmers and for fish in dealing with drainage ditches that have connections to salmon habitat; its implementation helps fish by improving their habitat and helps farmers by creating agreed-to, workable practices that meet ESA needs.

The National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and the Tulalip Tribe have provided $523,000 to support the new Pioneers in Conservation program. In-kind support also comes from the Washington State Conservation Commission, Washington State Dairy Federation, Whatcom County Agriculture Preservation Committee, Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland, The Skagit Watershed Council, and American Farmland Trust.

So far Shared Strategy has received 32 independent project proposals for Pioneers in Conservation grants, demonstrating the many possibilities for collaboration in recovering Puget Sound salmon while also nurturing and supporting Puget Sound agriculture. The first round of grants was awarded in early November, and the second round of grants will be awarded on December 6th. The goal is to make protecting salmon part of the daily business of farmers and supporting the prosperity of farms the daily concern of fish advocates. 

“Whatcom County farmers and salmon are both struggling as growth competes for resource lands. Pioneering projects like these by the Nooksack Tribe and the Conservation District are great examples of how we can save them both,” said Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen. “The futures of fish and farms squarely depend on each other.”