Submitted by Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office

Barriers will be removed for migrating salmon, trees will be planted to shade rivers and stream habitat will be improved thanks to a new round of salmon recovery grants.

The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the Puget Sound Partnership announced the award of 150 grants in 29 counties, culminating in an $81.5 million investment in recovering at-risk salmon species. Of that, 66 grants totaling $53.7 million will target projects in and around Puget Sound, Washington state’s biggest estuary. The grants focus on improving salmon habitat and conserving shorelines and riverbanks.

“These are important projects that will help us restore our salmon populations,” said Gov. Jay Inslee. “They also provide many other benefits. When we clean up our rivers, we not only help salmon, we reduce flooding, help our communities adapt to climate change and preserve jobs that rely on healthy salmon and natural resources.”

A total of $4,086,089 in grants were awarded to projects in San Juan County. The San Juan projects and grant amounts can be found at https://rco.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NEWS-274-SalmonPSARGrants.pdf, beginning on pg. 41.