Grants and Funding

EPA receives federal funding to support efforts to protect and restore Puget Sound. Most of the funds are used for financial assistance to state, local and tribal governments for their efforts to implement the Puget Sound Action Agenda . The Action Agenda was approved by EPA in summer 2009 as the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Puget Sound under the EPA’s National Estuary Program.

News

In February 2011, EPA awarded more than $21 million to state, tribal and federal organizations for the restoration and protection of Puget Sound. The majority of the funds will go to projects benefiting critical ecosystems. The remainder will fund activities to ensure public participation in Puget Sound recovery, and support management and accountability for implementing the Action Agenda to restore Puget Sound by 2020.

We have initiated an approach that uses Lead Organizations to implement targeted strategies, largely through sub-awards to a variety of other entities, for Puget Sound projects. These projects will be announced when sub-awards are made. The lead organizations that have been awarded funding to oversee these focused efforts are listed below:

Lead Organization	Funding Received	Focus
Washington State Department of Ecology	$3.1 million	Toxics and nutrients reduction and prevention
Washington State Department of Ecology	$3.1 million	Protection of at-risk watersheds
Washington State Department of Health	$3.1 million	Pathogen reduction and prevention
Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife	$3.1 million	Marine and nearshore habitat restoration and protection
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission	$3 million	Support for implementation of the 2020 Action Agenda strategies for Puget Sound recovery and actions of high tribal priority. View project summaries, progress reports, and other project information
Puget Sound Partnership	$6 million	Oversee implementation of the 2020 Action Agenda for Puget Sound recovery

Current funding opportunities

None at this time.

Past funding opportunities

The funding opportunities listed below are all closed for proposals, but are listed here for your reference.

Type of Funding	Proposals Were Due
Ecosystem Restoration and Protection (solicitation for Lead Organizations)	November 1, 2010
Tribal Implementation Projects (solicitation for Lead Organizations)	October 1, 2010
Managing the Implementation of the Puget Sound Action Agenda	September 1, 2010
Targeted Watershed Grants Program: Urban Watershed Capacity Building Grant	May 19, 2010
Puget Sound Scientific Studies and Technical Investigations Assistance	March 9, 2010
Puget Sound Outreach, Education, and Stewardship Program	March 2, 2010
Puget Sound Tribal Implementation Assistance	January 26, 2010
Puget Sound Watershed Management Assistance Program Grants	January 26, 2010

Grant Project Abstracts

The following awards were made under funding announcements that closed in 2010.  View our interactive map to see project locations. Click on categories below to read abstracts of individual grant projects and Lead Organization funding.

• Managing the Implementation of the Puget Sound Action Agenda (one Lead Organization)
• Tribal Implementation Projects (one Lead Organization)
• Ecosystem Restoration and Protection (Lead Organizations in 4 categories)
• Watershed Management Assistance Program Grants (24)
• Tribal Implementation Assistance Grants (11)
• Outreach, Education, and Stewardship Program Grant (one Lead Organization)
• Scientific Studies and Technical Investigations Assistance Grants (16)

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Managing the Implementation of the Puget Sound Action Agenda (one Lead Organization)

Puget Sound Partnership Technical Investigations & Implementation
Amount: $6million awarded for the first two years; potential funding of up to $18 million over a 6 year project period.
Matching funds: Non-federal match must equal federal funding provided.
Recipient:  Puget Sound Partnership
Project Description: This project establishes a lead entity to create and implement:  1) an accountability and performance management system to track the progress of Action Agenda implementation;  2) an integrated, long-term environmental monitoring, data management and reporting information system to assess environmental progress and evaluate the effectiveness of key management actions;  3) a strategic science program to advance the science and policy dialogue and to synthesize and communicate relevant science information to improve management programs, and to identify and adapt to emerging threats identified through scientific investigation; and 4)  a system for working with local watershed groups, tribes, cities, counties, special purpose districts, the private sector, and other entities to align and integrate local programs with ecosystem-level priorities and strategies.
Outcomes:  Effective and efficient management of Puget Sound restoration and protection efforts
Contact: Angela Grout  (206) 553-0332

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Tribal Implementation Projects (one Lead Organization)

Tribal Implementation of the Action Agenda
Amount: $3million awarded for the first year; potential funding of up to $18 million over a 6 year project period.
Matching funds: Non-federal match must equal federal funding provided.
Recipient:  Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Project Description:   The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) will develop and carry out a program to make subawards and manage funding specifically for Tribal projects to protect and restore Puget Sound, consistent with the Puget Sound Action Agenda.  The Lead Organization will develop and administer a subaward program for the federally recognized Puget Sound Indian Tribes and authorized consortia of these Tribes.  Subawards will be made for activities or strategies in or consistent with the Action Agenda, and that meet high priority ecosystem restoration and protection needs of Tribes within the greater Puget Sound basin.
Outcomes:  Documented improvements in the Puget Sound ecosystem in areas identified as high priority for Puget Sound Tribes. View project summaries, progress reports, and other project information
Contact:  Lisa Chang  (206) 553-0226

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Ecosystem Restoration and Protection (Lead Organizations in 4 categories)

Implementation of Marine and Nearshore Strategies to Protect and Restore Puget Sound
Amount: $3million awarded for the first year; potential funding of up to $48 million over a six year project period.
Matching funds: Non-federal match must equal federal funding provided.
Recipient:  Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (Washington Department of Natural Resources is a co-lead on the project).
Project Description: The State agencies will implement marine and nearshore strategies to protect and restore Puget Sound.   Subawards to other entities to perform this work will be a significant component to these strategies.
Outcomes: Improved health of the marine and nearshore resources of Puget Sound
Contact:  John Gabrielson (206) 553-8320

Implementation of Watershed-Scale Strategies to Protect and Restore Puget Sound
Amount: $3million awarded for the first year; potential funding of up to $48 million over a six year project period.
Matching funds: Non-federal match must equal federal funding provided.
Grantee:  Washington Department of Ecology (Washington Department of Commerce is a co-lead on the project). Project description: The State agencies will implement watershed-scale strategies to protect and restore Puget Sound. Subawards to other entities to perform this work will be a significant component to these strategies.
Outcomes:  Improved watershed function within the Puget Sound basin.
Contact:  Michael Rylko  (206) 553-4014

Strategic Framework for the Prevention, Reduction, and Control of Toxics and Nutrients
Amount: $3million awarded for the first year; potential funding of up to $48 million over a six year project period.
Matching funds: Non-federal match must equal federal funding provided.
Grantee:  Washington Department of Ecology
Project description: The Department of Ecology will implement strategies to prevent, reduce, and control loadings of toxics and nutrients to Puget Sound.  Subawards to other entities to perform this work will be a significant component to these strategies.
Outcomes:  Decreased loadings of, and adverse impacts from toxics and nutrients in Puget Sound.
Contact:  Michael Cox  (206) 553-1597

Strategic Framework for the Prevention, Reduction, and Control of Pathogens
Amount: $3million awarded for the first year; potential funding of up to $48 million over a six year project period.
Matching funds: Non-federal match must equal federal funding provided.
Grantee:  Washington Department of Health
Project description: The Department of Health will implement strategies to prevent, reduce, and control loadings of pathogens to Puget Sound.  Subawards to other entities to perform this work will be a significant component to these strategies.
Outcomes:  Decreased loadings of, and adverse impacts from pathogens to Puget Sound.
Contact:  Jo Henry  (360) 753-9469

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Watershed Management Assistance Program Grants

The listed matching funds are one-third provided by the grant recipient. Puget Sound Partnership is providing the remaining two-thirds of the matching funds.

Comprehensive Watershed Plan for Sustainable Development and Restoration of the Gorst Creek Watershed
Amount: $659,477
Matching funds: $220,292
Grantee: City of Bremerton
Project description: Comprehensive watershed plan for sustainable development and restoration of the Gorst Creek Watershed.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Riparian /Aquatic Habitat Protection & Restoration
Contact: 360-473-5920

Snohomish Basin Watershed Characterization and Protection
Amount: $630,803
Matching funds: $238,287
Grantee: Snohomish County Public Works
Project description: The Snohomish Basin is a major drainage in Puget Sound. Land use pressures and climate change threaten to overwhelm the long-term viability of fish populations, farms and forests. Snohomish County, King County, and the Tulalip Tribes will develop a protection strategy to address these challenges.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Riparian /Aquatic Habitat Protection & Restoration
Contact: 425-388-3488

Monitoring of Aquatic/Riparian habitats in Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed
Amount: $995,716
Matching funds: $335,933
Grantee: King County
Project description: King County will monitor up to 50 stream reaches in the Cedar-Sammamish watershed and 10 EPA Sentinel sites to monitor watershed conditions.
Outcomes: Riparian /Aquatic Habitat Protection
Contact: 206-296-0100

Skagit County Alternative Futures Project
Amount: $815,500
Matching funds: $272,000
Grantee: Skagit County
Project description: To sustain natural resource lands and industries, and accommodate population growth, Skagit County and its partners are developing a 50-year plan for future land use and water consumption.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Estuary/ Floodplain Habitat Restoration
Contact: 360-336–9300

Piper's Creek Flow Control Plan
Amount: $850,904
Matching funds: $450,000
Grantee: Seattle Public Utilities
Project description: Seattle Public Utilities will establish a stormwater flow control plan for the Piper's Creek watershed using hydrologic modeling and green stormwater infrastructure techniques.
Outcomes: Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Hydrological Protection/ Restoration
Contact: 206-684-7688

Managing Growth in Island Communities
Amount: $696,184
Matching funds: $358,212
Grantee: San Juan County
Project description: The San Juan Islands are impacted by one of the most rapid growth rates in the state. This project builds San Juan County’s capacity to manage growth sustainably and establishes a regional forum to help share information on how to protect island communities as they grow.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Shoreline Protection, Hydrological Protection
Contact: 360-370-7405

Watershed Characterization - From Best Available Science to Local Policy and Implementation
Amount: $885,641
Matching funds: $416,590
Grantee: Thurston County
Project description: Thurston County will coordinate with the cities of Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, Rainier and Yelm to implement watershed-based land-use plans and regulations. This project will integrate stakeholders, the scientific community, and policy makers to work at a watershed scale to accommodate projected growth while protecting aquatic ecosystem processes.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Riparian /Aquatic Habitat Protection & Restoration, Hydrological Protection
Contact: 360-754-3800

Budd to Henderson Inlets Coastal Conservation Initiative
Amount: $1,000,000
Matching funds: $350,000
Grantee: Squaxin Island Tribe
Project description: The Squaxin Island Tribe and its partners will assess expansion of the Woodard Bay Natural Resource Conservation Area; protect 150 acres of habitat; facilitate removal of two passage barriers to enhance salmon spawning habitat; and establish an educational center.
Outcomes: Estuary/ Floodplain Habitat Restoration, Shoreline Protection
Contact: 360-426-9781

Enhanced Shoreline Protection - A proposals for measuring and achieving "no net loss' of ecological function
Amount: $999,915
Matching funds: $330,000
Grantee: Clallam County
Project description: Clallam County is updating its Shoreline Master Program and is required to develop policies and regulations to achieve no net loss of ecological functions. The county will create a framework for assessing development impacts using ecological indicators. This will yield information for shoreline management strategies and better permitting.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Shoreline Protection
Contact: 360-417-2000

Within WRIA County to City Transfer of Development Rights from Nearshore and Upland Habitats in Puget Sound Watersheds
Amount: $1,000,000
Matching funds: $330,000
Grantee: King County
Project description: King and Pierce Counties will provide models to show how local governments around Puget Sound can use Transfer of Development Rights to protect natural resources in a cost effective manner.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Shoreline Protection
Contact: 206-296-0100

Protecting Puget Sound Watersheds from Agricultural Runoff Using a Progressive Manure Applications Risk Management System
Amount: $710,887
Matching funds: $237,563
Grantee: Whatcom Conservation District
Project description: The Whatcom Conservation District, with dairy farmers and other partners, will develop an Application Risk Management system. By evaluating pollution risks and improving manure application procedures, this system will reduce runoff events and agricultural pollution reaching groundwater, surface water, salmon bearing rivers, shellfish beds, and the air.
Outcomes: Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Shellfish Bed Recertification
Contact: 360-354-2035 x3

Birch Bay Characterization and Watershed Planning Pilot - Taking Action
Amount: $772,570
Matching funds: $260,127
Grantee: Whatcom Conservation District
Project description: The Whatcom Conservation District will implement watershed management recommendations to rural and urban areas to reduce impacts from land use practices. The work will encourage residents to adopt stewardship practices, use low impact development and agricultural best management practices, and participate in restoration projects. It will also provide specific stormwater flow volumes.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Estuary/ Floodplain Habitat Restoration, Hydrological Protection
Contact: 360-354-2035 x3

Development of a Stormwater Retrofit Plan for WRIA 9 and Estimation of Costs for Retrofitting all Development Lands of Puget Sound
Amount: $999,981
Matching funds: $333,786
Grantee: King County
Project description: King County will develop a cost estimate and prioritization plan for implementing stormwater best management practices and low impact development techniques. In-stream flow and water quality goals will be developed, and retrofits will be optimized to meet these goals at minimum cost.
Outcomes: Hydrological Protection, Land Protection, Water Quality, Protection & Restoration
Contact: 206-296-0100

Biological Recovery of the Goldsborough Creek Basin (Oakland Bay Watershed)
Amount: $975,000
Matching funds: $322,500
Grantee: Squaxin Island Tribe
Project description: The Squaxin Island Tribe and its partners will improve riparian and instream habitat, sediment transport and instream flow conditions in the Goldsborough Basin. The Tribe will also work with Shelton Harbor landowners to improve estuary habitat while maintaining the waterfront’s working nature. The goal is to increase annual coho salmon smolt out-migration by 15 percent by 2020.
Outcomes: Estuary Habitat Restoration, Shoreline Protection, Riparian /Aquatic Habitat Protection & Restoration, Hydrological Protection, Water Quality Protection & Restoration
Contact: 360-426-9781

Regional TDR Program: Phase II - Establishing an Incentive for City Participation
Amount: $1,000,000
Matching funds: $333,000
Grantee: Puget Sound Regional Council
Project description: Transfer of Development Rights is a market-based conservation tool that voluntarily shifts development from key places communities want to conserve to places that communities want to grow. The Puget Sound Regional Council and its partners will leverage ongoing regional TDR program development and implementation by increasing city participation.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Shoreline Protection
Contact: 206-464-7090

Kitsap County Health District's Shellfish Restoration and Protection Project
Amount: $668,034
Matching funds: $329,032
Grantee: Kitsap County Health District
Project description: To improve water quality and restore shellfish areas, the Kitsap County Health District and its partners will correct sources of fecal pollution. Work includes: implementing a shoreline monitoring program; evaluating land use; educating landowners about pollution and sustainable land use; providing homeowners a septic system repair loan program; correcting failing sewage systems, and establishing a community shellfish farm.
Outcomes: Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Shellfish Bed Recertification
Contact: 360-337-5235

Clean Water District Activities in Jefferson and Clallam Counties
Amount: $1,000,000
Matching funds: $330,000
Grantee: Jefferson County Public Health Department
Project description: There are shellfish beds closed or threatened due to bacterial pollution from failing septic systems and runoff from agricultural lands. Jefferson County Public Health will address contaminant sources by improving the operations and monitoring of OSS, implementing a septic loan program and improving agricultural waste management.
Outcomes: Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Shellfish Bed Recertification
Contact: 360-385-9444

Pierce County Shellfish Watersheds Project
Amount: $751,211
Matching funds: $567,000
Grantee: Tacoma-Pierce County Public Health Department
Project description: The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department will take a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to prevent threats to water quality in Pierce County, focusing on shellfish areas most at risk.
Outcomes: Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Shellfish Bed Recertification
Contact: 253-798-6500

Clean Samish Initiative Implementation: Samish Bay Watershed Pollution Identification and Correction
Amount: $961,980
Matching funds: $443,793
Grantee: Skagit County Public Works
Project description: Samish Bay’s commercial shellfish growing areas has suffered closures due to high bacteria levels. Expanding upon the Clean Samish Initiative work, Skagit County will identify and remedy sources of fecal contamination. A program of outreach, monitoring, connecting landowners with resources, and follow-up will result in watershed resident awareness.
Outcomes: Water Quality Protection & Restoration, Shellfish Bed Recertification
Contact: 360-336-9400

Incentivizing Low Impact Shoreline Development: Developing and Piloting Green Shores for Homes on the City of Seattle's Lake Washington Shorelines and in San Juan County
Amount: $584,122
Matching funds: $193,146
Grantee: City of Seattle
Project description: The City of Seattle, with San Juan County and Washington Sea Grant, will test a program to improve ecosystem functions and processes along shorelines of single-family waterfront homes.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Shoreline Protection
Contact: 206-684-2489

Kitsap Regional Shoreline Restoration Project
Amount: $763,200
Matching funds: $254,400
Grantee: Kitsap County
Project description: Eighty-two percent of Kitsap County’s shoreline is developed. Individual and cumulative development impacts can degrade ecological processes. Kitsap County will work with landowners to remove bulkheads, restoring sediment supplies to priority nearshore areas.
Outcomes: Shoreline/ Nearshore Restoration
Contact: 360-337-5777

Protection and Enhancement of the Riparian Buffers in WRIA 7 through Restoration and Stewardship
Amount: $651,555
Matching funds: $311,188
Grantee: King County
Project description: Invasive knotweeds have invaded the Snoqualmie/Skykomish watershed, threatening water and habitat quality by spreading rapidly and displacing native riparian buffer vegetation. King County and its partners will work to comprehensively replace the knotweeds with native vegetation.
Outcomes: Riparian /Aquatic Habitat Protection & Restoration
Contact: 206-296-0100

Community Partnership for Riparian Restoration on the Lower Cedar River
Amount: $902,455
Matching funds: $298,000
Grantee: Seattle Public Utilities
Project description: Seattle Public Utilities will establish a partnership among a variety of entities to restore riparian ecosystems on both public and private property in the lower Cedar River. The project will encourage landowner participation in activities that contribute to riparian restoration, invasive plant eradication and native vegetation planting.
Outcomes: Riparian /Aquatic Habitat Protection & Restoration
Contact: 206-684-7688

Watershed Stewardship Resource Center
Amount: $533,761
Matching funds: $266,885
Grantee: Jefferson County Department of Community Development
Project description: Jefferson County will create a Watershed Stewardship Resource Center to guide property owners and developers to apply sustainable development practices. Designed as an optional 'one stop shop', the center will promote low impact development to stormwater management, shoreline, critical area, and other environmental protection requirements.
Outcomes: Land Protection, Shoreline Protection, Riparian /Aquatic Habitat Protection & Restoration, Hydrological Protection, Water Quality Protection & Restoration
Contact: 360-379-4450

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Tribal Implementation Assistance Grants

Red Creek - Reach 6 Hydro-Geomorphic Restoration
Amount: $598,618
Grantee: Upper Skagit Indian Tribe
Project description: This project will replace two fish passage barriers in the Red Creek system affecting upstream migration to salmon habitat. It will restore natural hydro-geomorphic processes essential to successful downstream floodplain restoration activities.
Outcomes: Aquatic habitat restoration
Contact: 360-856-5501

Samish River Invasive Knotweed Control Project and Riparian Restoration
Amount: $449,961
Grantee: Samish Indian Nation Department of Natural Resources
Project description: The Samish River, a salmonid bearing system, is infested with invasive Japanese Knotweed. Small scale control efforts have been undertaken but no coordinated systematic effort has been initiated. This project would be a multiagency and multiyear control effort.
Outcomes: Riparian restoration
Contact: 360-661-6336

Ediz Hook Restoration - Phase lll, Port Angeles Harbor - Strait of Juan de Fuca
Amount: $581,260
Grantee: Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe of Natural Resources
Project description: The project site is located on the southern shore of Ediz Hook, a natural but degraded 3-mile spit on the Strait of Juan de Fuca that forms Port Angeles Harbor. This proposal represents the third phase of restoration efforts on Ediz Hook. The project goal is to restore processes along 1,200 feet of Ediz Hook shoreline.
Outcomes: Shoreline and nearshore habitat restoration
Contact: 360-452-8471

Monitoring and Adaptive Management of the Nisqually Delta Tidal Marsh Restoration: Restoring Ecosystem Function for Salmon
Amount: $600,000
Grantee: Nisqually Indian Tribe Natural Resources Department
Project description: The Nisqually Delta represents the largest tidal marsh restoration in Puget Sound. It remains uncertain how the Delta and its biota will respond to restoration of tidal inundation. The purpose of this proposal is to fund research by the Nisqually Tribe and three U.S. Geological Survey partners focused on assessing the effectiveness of the Delta projects at restoring estuarine processes, habitats, and the capacity of the Delta for supporting Chinook salmon and other fish.
Outcomes: Estuary habitat restoration monitoring
Contact: 360-456-5221

Fall City Park Riparian Restoration and Traditional Ecological Knowledge Project
Amount: $251,520
Grantee: Snoqualmie Tribe Environmental and Natural Resources Department
Project description: These funds will complete the Fall City Park Restoration started by the Snoqualmie Tribe. The riparian buffer at Fall City Park is infested with the non-indigenous plant species. Critical ecosystem processes are impaired because of the magnitude of the invasion, which occurs in a reach of the Snoqualmie River known for Chinook steelhead habitat.
Outcomes: Riparian restoration
Contact: 425-888-6551

Innovative Planning, Design and Regulatory Approaches to Protect Water Resources in Quilceda Creek
Amount: $550,000
Grantee: Tulalip Tribes of Washington, Natural Resources Department
Project description: To meet demand for future development, the Tulalip Tribes will employ Smart Growth and Low Impact Development (LID) to protect habitat resources found in the Quilceda Creek corridor. This project uses landscape analysis and community outreach to develop Smart Growth planning and LID guidelines and incentives to develop permit/regulatory requirements to be included in an updated Tribal Development Code. It explores options for managing onsite septic systems in a high groundwater area to close a current regulatory gap.
Outcomes: Local watershed protection; water quality protection
Contact: 1-800-869-8287

Assessment of Marine and Floodplain Riparian Vegetation in the Hood Canal and Strait of Juan de Fuca
Amount: $205,592
Grantee: Point No Point Treaty Council
Project description: This grant funds an air photo assessment of riparian conditions along marine shorelines and selected major river corridors/floodplains of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Hood Canal sub-basins. Riparian maps and datasets are planning tools that will inform tribes and partners in updating Shoreline Master Programs and Critical Area Ordinances; they will help refine salmon and nearshore habitat protection and landowner stewardship priorities; and these datasets would represent a baseline from which trends in riparian conditions could be measured.
Outcomes: Shoreline protection; riparian protection; floodplain protection
Contact: 360-297-3422

Protecting and Restoring Waters Important to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Amount: $600,000
Grantee: Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Project description: The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is: 1) Conducting channel restoration required to restore the Lower Dungeness floodplain via dike setback, and large wood restoration in the Upper watershed, 2) Purchasing 28.5 acres of floodplain forest bordering 1100 feet of Dungeness River channel, 3) Restoring tidal hydrology and habitat connectivity in an important estuary, and 4) Assessing the extent of macroalgae blooms to understand what natural and human-induced conditions may be contributing to them.
Outcomes: Aquatic and floodplan restoration; nearshore water quality protection
Contact: 360-683-1109

Reducing Effective Imperious Surface in small Urban Catchment Using Low Impact Development Practices
Amount: $554,362
Grantee: Puyallup Tribe of Indians Natural Resources Department
Project description: Six species of salmon use Clarks Creek as spawning and rearing habitat and many other up-river origin fish also use the creek. Sediment volumes that exceed the system's natural transport capacity obviate natural production potential. The Puyallup Tribe of Indians will reduce sediment, nutrient and bacteria loads to Clarks Creek and its tributaries by reducing the effective impervious area in the watershed through the use of low impact development and measures that target key pollutant source areas.
Outcomes: Watershed protection
Contact: 253-573-7850

Suquamish Tribe, Chico Creek Estuary
Amount: $600,000
Grantee: Suquamish Tribe, Fisheries Department
Project description: The Chico Estuary Restoration Project will result in improved fish passage; conservation of 2.3 acres of salt marsh and 1.1 acres of nearshore uplands; restoration of 1.1 acres of estuarine and riparian habitat; improved stream hydraulic function and habitat condition; reduced stormwater runoff to estuary from pollution generating surface; and improved water quality protection for the nearby shellfish growing area in Chico Bay.
Outcomes: Estuary restoration
Contact: 360-394-8437

Peak Flows and Chinook Survival in the Stillaguamish Watershed: Modeling the Relative Importance of Natural and Antrhopogenic Factors; Prioritizing Restoration and Protection Actions Utilizing a Parcel-Based GIS Framework
Amount: $335,011
Grantee: Stillaguamish Tribe, Natural Resources Department
Project description: This project investigates the mechanisms of flow driven Chinook mortality, separate climate induced peak flow drivers from those related to anthropogenic factors, and develops a parcel based prioritization framework for restoration and protection actions in the North and South Fork of the Stillaguamish River.
Outcomes: Hydrological protection and restoration
Contact: 425-359-7922

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Outreach, Education, and Stewardship Program Grants

Puget Sound Outreach and Stewardship Coalition: Action Agenda E-4 Implementation
Amount: $2,000,000 – with incremental funding $1,000,000 for four years
Matching funds: First year match is $1,075,000 provided, followed by $1,000,000 annually for four years thereafter.
Grantee: Puget Sound Partnership
Project description: This project will establish a lead entity of a coalition of more than 300 agencies and organizations to lead public outreach, education, and stewardship efforts across the 12-county Puget Sound region. Working together through a coordinated approach, the grantee will provide the coalition the opportunity to develop, implement and administer a comprehensive public engagement program that will significantly advance the key public education and involvement priorities in the Puget Sound 2020 Action Agenda. It will also create effective social marketing frameworks targeting measurable behavior change.
Outcomes: Awareness and education; stewarsdhip and behavior change
Contact: 360-725-5444

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Scientific Studies and Technical Investigations Assistance Grants

Channel Migration Assessments: Providing Puget Sound Communities with Information & Technical Assistance for Shorelines Master Programs, Floodplain Management & Riverine Protection & Restoration Strategies
Amount: $564,139
Grantee: Washington Department of Ecology
Project description: This grant will update channel migration zone mapping in an effort to protect Puget Sound flood zones and shorelines. Channel migration zones and river floodplains are ecologically productive areas heavily impacted by development. A further understanding of their extent is critical to assessing risks to both human development and habitat. This grant will update the channel migration zone mapping methodology; map areas for local trend analysis; and develop restoration and protection strategies.
Outcomes: Identification and mapping of coastal management zones important for floodplain protection.
Contact: 360-407-6000

Wetlands Change Analysis - Tracking No Net Loss of Wetlands
Amount: $253,403
Grantee: Washington Department of Ecology
Project description: Wetlands are a critical resource in maintaining water quality in Puget Sound and providing wildlife habitat. This grant will help determine losses or gains in wetland areas across the Puget Sound basin. It will apply existing methods to data and satellite imagery dating back to 1985 to create a status and trends analysis. A complementary project will assess the feasibility of developing a method to classify wetlands using low-level aerial photography.
Outcomes: Filling data gaps related to filled or altered wetlands.
Contact: 360-407-6000

Enhancement and Standardization of Benthic Macroinvertebrate Monitoring and Analysis Tools for the Puget Sound Region
Amount: $699,983
Grantee: King County Parks and Recreation
Project description: Macroinvertebrates such as snails, worms and insects are an important indicator of stream health across all of the watersheds draining into Puget Sound. While many regional agencies use macroinvertebrate data, inconsistencies and lack of analysis tools prevent a comprehensive knowledge across the river basins of Puget Sound. This project will develop standardized monitoring tools to help use macro-invertebrate data as an important ecosystem indicator across the jurisdictional boundaries of Puget Sound.
Outcomes: Alignment and clarification of protocols will have broad benefits to enhance the utility of macroinvertebrate data.
Contact: 206-296-8687

Evaluating the ecological health of Puget Sound’s pelagic foodweb
Amount: $649,738 (less 3rd year federal costs)
Grantee: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Project description: Organisms like phytoplankton, small fish and jellyfish are an important indicator of the condition the Puget Sound pelagic food web. This grant will use sampling across the various sub-basins of Puget Sound to evaluate how food web conditions vary across the sound and determine appropriate biological metrics for monitoring ecosystem health. The study will improve understanding of the pelagic ecosystem, identify how humans influence it and help prioritize restoration of Puget Sound.
Outcomes: Builds greater research, datasets, and models for knowledge of the Puget Sound foodweb.
Contact: 206-860-3335

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) and Chinook Salmon Health
Amount: $314,180 (less 3rd year federal costs)
Grantee: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Project description: Chinook salmon are an important resource and also a critical species in the Puget Sound food web. They are accumulating particular chemicals, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are industrial contaminants that accumulate in the salmon tissue. There is limited information on adverse biological effects associated with PBDEs in salmon and other fish. This grant will fund a study to expose salmon to PBDE levels found in Puget Sound Chinook in order to understand these contaminants' effects on salmon health. This will aid in the development of protective standards for aquatic life and for reducing these chemicals in our local environments.
Outcomes: The understanding of the interactive effects between PBDE congeners.
Contact: 541-867-0327

Modeling PCB/PBDE Loadings Reduction Scenarios for the Lake Washington Watershed
Amount: $698,647
Grantee: King County
Project description: Fish consumption advisories for Puget Sound and Lake Washington indicate that persistent bioaccumulative toxics (PBTs) are present at hazardous levels. This project will prioritize major PBT chemical pathways including sewer overflows, stormwater, road runoff, river input and air deposition to the Lake Washington watershed and Puget Sound via the Chittenden Locks. Sources of PCBs and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), both industrial contaminants, will be sorted from existing and new data collected by this project. This will help to manage PBT pathways and to help identify priority sources of these chemicals and to reach safe levels in fish.
Outcomes: This project will produce a PBT loading budget for Lake Washington with relative contributions from sewer overflows, inlets, stormwater, road runoff and bulk air deposition clarified. The modeling framework is adaptable for other toxics loadings to the lake.
Contact: 206-296-1970

Puget Sound Circulation and Dissolved Oxygen Model 2.0: Human Contributions and Climate Influences
Amount: $699,827
Grantee: Washington Department of Ecology
Project description: Several sub-basins in Puget Sound experience low oxygen levels that do not meet state water quality standards needed to protect aquatic life. Improving water quality in these areas while accommodating population growth and anticipating climate change requires special tools. This grant will further develop analytical tools that build on existing efforts to understand Puget Sound-wide circulation and dissolved oxygen scenarios to identify and quantify potential impacts and protective strategies. Web-based communication and detailed reports will communicate findings to interested audiences.
Contact: 360-407-6000

Restoring Shellfish Harvest to the Joint Base Lewis-McChord/Chambers Creek Prohibited Area.
Amount: $676,309
Grantee: Washington Department of Health
Project description: This grant will study the potential to re-open shellfish harvesting in Pierce County from south of Joint Base Lewis-McChord to north of Chambers Creek. Historically, this area has been closed to shellfish harvest due to numerous outfalls. However, many of these sources of pollution have ceased over the years, and the wastewater facilities are evaluating options for future upgrading. The funds will be used for a shellfish resource evaluation, including both a pollution source and human health assessment; and related field studies to document conditions. The result will be better wastewater treatment plants; improved water quality; and increased access to shellfish for recreational, commercial and tribal harvests.
Outcomes: Addresses the water quality recertification process for shellfish harvest.
Contact: 1-800-525-0127

Transport and Fate of Nutrient and Pathogen Loadings into Nearshore Puget Sound: Consequences for Shellfish Growing Areas
Amount: $606,718 (less 3rd year federal costs)
Grantee: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Project description: This grant will develop an assessment of shellfish growing areas vulnerability to closures caused by both watershed-based and marine-derived pathogens. Using data and models, this grant will examine the impacts of alternative watershed management strategies, nearshore protection practices, and climate change on the vulnerability of three important shellfish growing areas. This will aid shellfish growers and managers to classify the vulnerability of shellfish growing areas according to risk of future closures and to develop pro-active strategies for improving both water quality and reliable shellfish harvests.
Outcomes: Addresses the water quality recertification process for shellfish harvest.
Contact: 206-860-3492

Effect of Forestry on Headwater Streams in Erodible Lithology
Amount: $699,827
Grantee: Washington Department of Ecology
Project description: This grant will fund a study to determine if the state's forestry rules are effectively preventing degradation of water quality and habitat in the headwaters of Puget Sound watersheds. The information will be paired with ongoing companion studies. The resulting package of studies and assessments will create a foundation of science to support a formal regulatory review of Washington's forest practices rules in these vulnerable headwater areas.
Contact: 360-407-6000

Building a Puget Sound Wide, Community Watershed Database and Analysis System to Facilitate Science-Based Resource Management and Restoration
Amount: $286,723
Grantee: Earth Systems Institute
Project description: This grant will develop a comprehensive set of analysis tools and databases across the basin to help address flood and floodplain management, erosion mitigation, riparian protection strategies, aquatic habitat restoration and areas of particular sensitivity to climate change. A region-wide system of stakeholder supported watershed databases are already being developed for large areas of federal lands in Western Washington. This project will extend this system to remaining lands at lower elevations and include new tools for evaluating and assessing floodplain and estuarine areas.
Contact: 206-633-1792

Integrated Modeling and Decision-Support System for Water Management in the Puget Sound Basin
Amount: $573,025
Grantee: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Project description: Management of stormwater, flooding, and temperature stress on salmon are priorities across the watersheds and estuaries of Puget Sound. These management challenges depend on accurate estimates of the freshwater flows and water temperatures delivered from snowpack and precipitation at higher elevations. This project will create an integrated decision support system for the Snohomish River Basin that will improve information on freshwater flow and temperature across different climate and land development scenarios. Accurate modeling of water flows and temperature regimes in the watersheds and estuaries will provide improved tools for stormwater management, with the addition of other water quality parameters, including concentrations and movement of toxic contaminants.
Outcomes: Provides greater knowledge of water quality water flow and species and will inform growth supply planning.
Contact: 1-888-375-7665

Vulnerability and Resilience of Coastal Estuaries
Amount: $675,000 (less USGS year 3 costs)
Grantee: The Nature Conservancy
Project description: This project will focus on restoring river deltas and estuaries across the sound. Currently, habitats and species are declining due to altered ecological processes and habitat loss. Restoration has been limited due to existing land uses and costs of restoring these important coastal habitats. This project will build both technical capacity and community support for large scale restoration projects in seven different estuaries across Puget Sound: the Nooksack, Skagit, Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Nisqually, Skokomish and Elwha. A mix of habitat restoration strategies including the protection of existing land use will be conducted across these seven estuaries. Both estuary protection and restoration approaches will be discussed and evaluated with the support of local communities and land owners.
Outcomes: Map vulnerability portfolio for each of the seven deltas at a scale directly usable by local planners.
Contact: 206-343-4344

Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project Selection and Design
Amount: $549,922 (need revised budget for 2 year costs)
Grantee: United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Project description: Many characteristics of Puget Sound depend upon the nearshore zone, which is defined as encompassing the shallow waters of estuarine deltas to the outer marine shorelines - from the tops of the coastal bluffs to water depths where light supports plant growth, and up coastal rivers and streams to the limits of tidal influence. The Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project and general investigation study focuses on this nearshore zone. It will provide preliminary design and cost estimates for 30 - 45 restoration projects concentrated in this nearshore zone. The goals of the program are to identify significant ecosystem problems, evaluate system-scale solutions, and restore critical nearshore processes and habitats, including bluffs, beaches, shorelines, mudflats, salt marshes, gravel spits and estuaries.
Contact: 360-753-9440

Elwha River Restoration Project: the Dynamics and Downstream Impacts of Fine Sediments Released After Dam Removal
Amount: $350,000 (less 3rd and 4th year federal costs)
Grantee: United Stated Geological Survey
Project description: The Elwha River Restoration Project is the largest single restoration action planned for the Puget Sound region in the foreseeable future. The removal of two large dams is expected to begin in 2011 and take approximately 2.5 years. Sediment accumulated behind the dams is expected to erode and enter the river, creating impacts on freshwater, estuarine and nearshore ecosystems. This study will provide data to manage the restoration project with respect to sediment erosion and passage into the marine zone and to provide a better understanding of the impacts of large-scale dam removal on downstream ecosystems.
Outcomes: High quality information-based outputs helps adequate monitoring of an extreme volume of sediment moving through a highly braided estuary.
Contact: 253-552-1600

NOAA/NWFSC—Defining Target Levels for Puget Sound’s Ecosystem Components: A Socio-Ecological approach
Amount: $643,810 (less 3rd year federal costs)
Grantee: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Project description: This project will develop an approach for identifying ecosystem protection and restoration targets that consider social perspectives. This project will identify a set of critical ecosystem attributes and use a food web model to examine potential changes as a result of simulations on nearshore habitat and water quality. It will also conduct social norm analyses in which stakeholders are asked to rate the desirability of a range of potential ecosystem conditions. The goal is to blend ecological and social science to inform scientifically rigorous and socially responsive management targets.
Contact: 206-860-3473