For those who like to track what's going on with salmon-enhancement efforts, here's a release on some recent activity. Overall, NOAA is allotting $25 million to estuary enhancement in the U.S.

Keith


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 27, 2004

*** NEWS FROM NOAA ***
NATIONAL OCEANIC & ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
WASHINGTON, DC
Release no. NOAA04-R911
Contact: Megan Callahan-Grant, NOAA, (503) 231-2213
NOAA AWARDS OVER $240,000 TO THE LOWER COLUMBIA RIVER ESTUARY PARTNERSHIP

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded a
$241,250 grant to the Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership to restore
fisheries habitat in the Lower Columbia River and Tillamook
estuaries. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The funding creates a three-year agreement between the Estuary
Partnership and NOAA's Restoration Center to select and fund habitat
restoration projects that benefit living marine resources in the
estuaries. The funds will support local, hands on habitat restoration
projects in the lower Columbia River and Tillamook Bay. Both are estuaries
of national significance and are part of the National Estuary Program
administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"This partnership is a great example of leveraging federal dollars
to enhance local projects that augment the overall salmon restoration
efforts in the Northwest," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C.
Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere
and NOAA administrator. "This is the first time that the NOAA Restoration
Center has formed a funding partnership with the National Estuary
Program. It represents an important step in providing federal support of
community-led estuary restoration."

"We are extremely pleased to have the strong support of NOAA Fisheries for
the Estuary Partnership's habitat restoration program," said Debrah
Marriott, executive director of the Estuary Partnership. "This award will
go a long way in helping the Estuary Partnership achieve its objective of
restoring 16,000 acres of habitat, including 3,000 acres of estuarine
habitat, by 2010."
The Estuary Partnership is a collaborative program of the states of Oregon
and Washington, federal agencies, non-profit organizations, businesses and
economic interests and citizens. The organization works to increase
habitat and habitat functions; improve land use practices to protect
ecosystems; enhance education opportunities and provide information about
the lower river and estuary to build stewardship among all citizens;
improve coordination among multi-jurisdictions and interests; and reduce
conventional and toxic pollutants. For more information on the Estuary
Partnership, please visit their website at http://www.lcrep.org.

The NOAA Community-Based Restoration Program (CRP) has been
working with community organizations and local governments to support
locally driven habitat restoration projects in marine, estuarine and
riparian areas since 1996. NOAA CRP funds on-the-ground habitat
restoration projects that offer educational and social benefits for
citizens and their communities and provide long-term ecological benefits
for fishery resources. To date, nearly 800 projects in 26 states have been
implemented using NOAA funding and leveraged funding from national and
regional habitat restoration partners. For more information on the CRP,
please visit: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration.

Each year, NOAA awards approximately $900 million in grants to
members of the academic, scientific and business communities to assist the
agency in fulfilling its mission to study the Earth's natural systems in
order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life
and property and provide decision makers with reliable scientific
information. NOAA goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic
responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 34 years.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national
safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related
events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and
marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.

I misspoke. The $25 million is for salmon enhancement efforts in the Northwest and not estuary work.

Mea culpa,

Keith