Chelan County Receives Nearly $3 Million for Salmon Recovery

Chelan County received over $2,389,987 in funding towards Salmon Recovery.

The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board awarded nearly $76 million to conserve salmon populations across the state.

The main grant recipients include Chelan County’s Natural Resource department, along with Cascade Fisheries, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, and the Cascadia Conservation District.

Projects include the following along with grant amounts:

• Restoring Lower Peshastin Creek: $750,000
• Restoring Side-Channel Habitat in Peshastin Creek: $661,757
• Increasing Flow and Cooling Water in Entiat River Tributaries: $198,230
• Surveying Upper Columbia River Basins: $150,122
• Designing Restoration of the Lower Chiwawa River: $136,107
• Designing Restoration of Peshastin Creek: $135,000
• Designing Restoration of the Entiat River: $128,500
• Designing Restoration of the Upper Peshastin Creek: $99,021
• Conserving Land on the Upper Wenatchee River: $67,500
• Designing Restoration of the Upper Wenatchee River: $63,750

The Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board is the lead entity coordinator in charge of disseminating salmon recovery dollars to project sponsors in Chelan County. Cascade Fisheries is the project sponsor working to restore the lower Peshastin Creek area, which was awarded the highest grant.

Cascade Fisheries Executive Director Jason Lundgren says the goal is to restore streams back to their naturally-curvy state, before humans built highways or mined in the area.

“In 1975, the State Department of Transportation straightened it, and so we've been working on designing a project that emulates how it used to be,” Lundgren said. “This is the final phase of funding to help us put it back, as close as it can be, to its historic alignment.”

The Lower Peshastin Restoration Project will use the funds to increase channel lengths, increase the depth of streams, plant vegetation in the streams, and add 100 pieces of wood into the habitat.

These changes should help cultivate spring Chinook and Steelhead, which includes migration, spawning, fry colonization, and help keep the climate temperate through each season.

To learn more about these projects visit this link.