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HomeMy WebLinkAbout090325 - RCO Newsletter - September 2025ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/1d9e606c-e643-9cc9-ddd8-3c4e3a1ffa7e.png> Message from the Director Welcome to the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office’s (RCO) newsletter. September is here—time to say goodbye to summer and welcome the fall. We’re excited to share stories about work being done to protect the Squaxin Island Kelp bed, preparations being made for Orca Recovery Day, the new salmon monitoring grant program, and much more. Thanks for reading! Announcements * Amee Bahr was promoted to senior outdoor grants manager for the Salmon Section * Hayley Dalgetty was promoted to senior outdoor grants manager for the Recreation and Conservation Grants Section * Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office co-hosts a Knowledge Exchange Workshop <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=970749dc2b&e=186c5ff3d1> on September 10 * Salmon Recovery Funding Board meets September 16 <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=a9ddc912c0&e=186c5ff3d1> * Recreation and Conservation Funding Board meets October 28-29 <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=177f419de2&e=186c5ff3d1> <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/7ed7fa47-b71c-d7a6-a2b9-7f2b3fc2385e.png> RCO Hosts Webinar for Successful Applicants RCO will be hosting its Successful Applicant Webinar on September 10 at 2 p.m. This free webinar is designed to help applicants who were awarded grants in 2024 with implementing their funded project. Topics covered during the webinar include grant agreement terms, reporting requirements, project changes, ongoing obligations, project closeout, accessibility requirements, and more. Bring your questions! Register to attend the webinar <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=844bc0c87e&e=186c5ff3d1> . <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/094607e6-9dfc-a47b-ff7d-00ac9264742d.png> Get Ready for Orca-tober! Orca Recovery Day is October 18. It’s an annual initiative to raise awareness and support for endangered Southern Resident orcas <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b 5e&id=a0283b1aba&e=186c5ff3d1> . Conservation districts and others will be hosting events for volunteers to get involved with orca recovery. Many of these events will focus on restoring salmon habitat since Chinook salmon is the main food source for Southern Residents. There will be a variety of events to take part in on October 18, and throughout the month, like shoreline restoration, urban tree planting, watershed education, and litter cleanup. Visit the Better Ground website <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=66b6af2620&e=186c5ff3d1> in October to find an orca event near you. Interested in hosting an event? Snohomish Conservation District is accepting submissions <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=2f15511096&e=186c5ff3d1> until September 5. <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/b6c9fa07-74cd-6fa0-0238-3cbd6b065eca.png> Restoring Salmon Habitat in Peshastin Creek After twelve years of fundraising and permitting, restoration work on Peshastin Creek <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=179cbc5ff5&e=186c5ff3d1> is under way! Cascade Fisheries is creating a twelve-hundred-foot side channel to increase creek complexity, which will improve spawning and rearing habitat for endangered Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, and other juvenile fish. Side channel habitat creates places for fish to rest, feed, and hide from predators. Additionally, Cascade Fisheries is installing logjams and woody materials in the creek, which will slow the water, reduce erosion, and allow small rocks to settle to the bottom, creating areas for fish to spawn. Cascade Fisheries will complete the project in the fall when they replant the restoration site with native vegetation. A ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for late October. <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/6f7f974f-38f8-ff80-35f1-563e2a40c680.png> State Awards $14.6 Million in Grants to Protect and Restore Puget Sound Habitat The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and RCO announced $14.6 million in grants for a suite of projects to protect and improve estuaries, shorelines, and other near-shore habitat in Puget Sound. The grants are from the Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=9bba32f771&e=186c5ff3d1> , which provides funding and technical assistance to projects that restore and conserve near-shore areas in Puget Sound. The goal is to ensure Washington’s estuaries, river deltas, bluffs, beaches, and bays are intact, functioning, and resilient to climate change. The Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program has invested nearly $152 million in more than two hundred projects since 2006. Those projects are expected to open more than seven miles of streams, restore 2,267 acres along waterways, and conserve (through purchases with willing sellers) more than three thousand acres and more than 25 miles of shoreline. To read about the projects, visit the RCO website <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=3be96e9115&e=186c5ff3d1> . <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/49bff704-be8f-7dc4-15d3-71a73c66fc83.png> New Salmon Grant Program Focuses on Monitoring In 2024, the Salmon Recovery Funding Board added a monitoring program grant to replace the $350,000 allocation that was previously set aside for monitoring. The new program, the Salmon Monitoring Grant Program, is a statewide, competitive grant program that is offered in odd-numbered years and runs at the same time as the traditional salmon grant program. The grants are open to regional recovery organizations and their designated project partners. The program is guided by strategic priorities for funding. Projects are intended to be of regional importance, to directly inform recovery actions, and have strong technical merit. The strategic priorities for the 2025 and 2027 grant rounds are monitoring survival bottlenecks (species and life stage), monitoring limiting factors, and monitoring project effectiveness. Spring 2025 was the first time this program was offered, and sponsors from six of the seven statewide salmon recovery regional organizations <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10ae d86ddd51107b5e&id=c5b08cfa77&e=186c5ff3d1> submitted applications for funds. Nine applications were received, focusing on issues such as project effectiveness, identifying survival bottlenecks and monitoring limiting factors. The board’s Science Advisory Panel <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=04e7b0d601&e=186c5ff3d1> evaluated projects based on criteria directed at the project’s importance to recovery, scientific merit, transferability, and consistency and leveraging with other monitoring efforts. The board will announce which projects are funded at its September 16 board meeting <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=6ebc1347d2&e=186c5ff3d1> . <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/f4ac782f-785c-d489-21b3-985a4952bcae.png> Partnering to Protect the Squaxin Island Kelp Bed On August 8, Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove and the Squaxin Island Tribe signed a Commissioner’s Order to establish the Squaxin Island Kelp Protection Zone <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com /track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=67010f3922&e=186c5ff3d1> . This order will remove 350 acres of state-owned aquatic lands from future leasing and provide a formalized opportunity for the department and Tribe to co-steward the recovery of the last remaining kelp bed in south Puget Sound as part of the Statewide Kelp Forest and Eelgrass Meadow Health and Conservation Plan <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd511 07b5e&id=5fb28106b3&e=186c5ff3d1> . Kelp provides important habitat for salmon and the fish they eat and is vital to salmon and orca recovery. However, bull kelp has disappeared from 80 percent of shorelines along central and south Puget Sound. Efforts are underway across the Salish Sea to understand what is causing these declines and to accelerate protection and recovery. Katie Knight Pruit and Elizabeth Spaulding of the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office joined the event and were able to visit the Squaxin kelp bed and discuss how partnerships across coalitions are critical to the success of all Puget Sound recovery efforts. <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=394c5a5102&e=186c5ff3d1> <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=6fabdc803d&e=186c5ff3d1> <http://www.rco.wa.gov/> view this email in your browser <https://mailchi.mp/rco.wa.gov/rco-newsletter-september-2025?e=186c5ff3d1> © 2025 Recreation and Conservation Office, all rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? 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