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| OWEB Board considers $11 million in requests Sept. 19 & 20 | ||
| 09/13/2006 | ||
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14-06
News media contact: Bonnie Ashford, OWEB, 503-986-0181OWEB Board to consider $11 million in requestsfor stream, wetland and fisher employment projects Proposals include dam removals, Deschutes River streamflow restoration NOTE to editors/reporters: Following the board meeting, OWEB will post on the agency Web site a release highlighting major funded projects along with a listing of all funded projects by county. The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board will consider proposals to award more than $10 million for stream, lake and wetland restoration and protection projects and $500,000 to extend a program to employ displaced coastal fishers at meetings September 19 and 20 in Bend. The meetings will be held in the South and Middle Sisters Conference Room at the Riverhouse, 3075 North Business 97. Both meetings begin at 8 a.m. For more information, visit the OWEB Web site at www.oregon.gov/OWEB. Click on “OWEB Board” on the left menu or call 503-986-0178. Major restoration projects to be considered for funding include: $1.7 million to remove two dams on the Calapooia River near Brownsville, $850,000 to restore more than 100 cubic feet per second of water to the Middle Deschutes River by piping a main irrigation canal, and $1.9 million to comprehensively treat the Willow Creek Watershed in Malheur County through irrigation system improvements and wetland and stream bank protection. Board members will consider awarding $500,000 to help purchase the 873-acre Deer Creek Ranch in Josephine County. The total purchase price is $2,550,000. The project will conserve and protect fish and wildlife habitat while serving education and research purposes. Project partners include the Southern Oregon University Foundation, the Siskiyou Field Institute, and the Western Rivers Conservancy. Board members also will discuss authorizing an additional $500,000 to fund on-the-ground restoration projects benefiting coastal coho salmon in watersheds that drain directly to the ocean. Crews of displaced fishers will work on the projects. The funds will supplement $2.2 million approved earlier this year for five new programs to employ displaced coastal fishers. To date, the new programs have supported the employment of more than 100 displaced fishers. Daniel Heagerty, Portland, and Jane O’Keeffe, Adel, serve as co-chairs of the 17-member Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. Members represent the public at large, tribes, state natural resource agency boards and commissions, the Oregon State University Extension Service, and federal natural resource agencies. The board is supported by a state agency of the same name that provides grants and services to citizen groups, organizations and agencies working to restore healthy streams, lakes and rivers in Oregon. OWEB actions support the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, created in 1997. Funding comes from the Oregon Lottery as a result of a citizen initiative in 1998, sales of salmon license plates, federal salmon funds and other sources. For more information, visit www.oregon.gov/OWEB or call OWEB in Salem at 503-986-0178. #######
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