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HomeMy WebLinkAbout010825 - RCO Newsletter - January 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. In this bimonthly newsletter, we will share useful news about important policy changes, upcoming grant deadlines, and approaching issues, as well as celebrate successful projects that help make Washington a great place to live, work, and play. Please enjoy! Announcements * RCO is recruiting <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=371d346d35&e=186c5ff3d1> for the manager of the Salmon Grants Section. * Eli Asher <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=ae4d8d5abf&e=186c5ff3d1> , a policy specialist in the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office, will leave RCO January 21 to become a senior environmental project manager with Jacobs Solutions, an international technical professional services firm. * Myra Barker <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=3cce2d761e&e=186c5ff3d1> will retire January 31 as the manager of the Compliance Unit after a twenty-five-year career at RCO. * Mollie Lavelle <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=2fada223f4&e=186c5ff3d1> joined RCO as the administrative assistant to the Salmon Grants Section. * Hailee Taylor <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=f1d92b00ad&e=186c5ff3d1> joined RCO as the administrative assistant to the Grant Services Section. * Recreation and Conservation Funding Board will meet Jan. 28-29 <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=f2725b17c1&e=186c5ff3d1> . * Salmon Recovery Funding Board will meet March 11-12 <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=6db4c8b767&e=186c5ff3d1> . * Washington Invasive Species Council will meet March 20 <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=02e4c0d438&e=186c5ff3d1> . What's Happening Accepting Salmon Recovery Grant Applications Learn more Help Stamp Out Invasive Species with a Boot Brush Station Learn more Help Endangered Salmon, Adopt a Fish Passage Learn more <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/495dfa4b-9182-cf1a-dddd-0bbd02e8c0d2.png> Efforts to Slow Boats to Protect Orcas Are Underway Learn more Manual for Salmon Monitoring Grants Online Learn more <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/7c497569-8bc7-11f8-1334-3246302c0ec1.png> Stanwood Completes Another Section of Trail Learn more <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/75aada51-9575-3675-ff39-ee28e6693d15.png> Accepting Salmon Recovery Grant Applications RCO will begin accepting applications in January for grants to restore salmon habitat. The grants may be used to restore degraded salmon habitat and protect high-quality habitat. This year, there may be additional funding for projects to restore land along waterways, known as riparian areas, such as river and stream banks, marine shorelines, estuaries, wetlands, and lakeshores. Both programs–salmon recovery and riparian–follow the same nine-month-long grant schedule and application process, which includes vetting by local watershed-based lead entities, regional salmon recovery organizations, and the state’s review panel. A free online webinar for grant applicants is set for January 30, from 10 a.m. to noon. Register in advance <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=8e79d350ac&e=18 6c5ff3d1> . Applications are due June 23. See more details about salmon recovery grants <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=d4380818a4&e=186c5ff3d1> on RCO’s website. <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/f56274d8-66e0-7d2e-784a-62981dd689f1.png> Adopt a Fish Passage The Legislature created a new Adopt-a-Fish Passage program <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=59159b8597&e=186c5ff3d1> to increase the pace and scale at which barriers to fish passage on Washington’s waterways are removed. Fish often are blocked from migration by culverts (structures that carry streams under roads), dams, dikes, and other obstructions. These blockages reduce the amount of habitat available to fish, including endangered salmon and steelhead trout. The new program enables the Washington State Department of Transportation and county, city, and town governments to accept donations to help with removing fish passage barriers. Donations may be money or land and will be recognized publicly at the fish passage site after the project is finished. Governments are encouraged to use these donations to match state grants such as the Brian Abbott Fish Barrier Removal Board <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=74cc569ce1&e=186c5ff3d1> grants. See more details about the program on RCO's website <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=675ffe5cb3&e=186c5ff3d1> . <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/b793f6ed-db88-f75c-f1cc-12d0eef7c6e4.png> Guidelines for Salmon Monitoring Grants Now Online In December, the Salmon Recovery Funding Board approved policies for regional grants to monitor salmon recovery. Under the new guidelines, monitoring projects must align with the following strategic priorities: * Monitor survival bottlenecks (species and life stage): A survival bottleneck is a specific stage in salmon’s life cycle that has high mortality or habitat capacity limitations, ultimately limiting future production. * Monitor limiting factors (e.g., habitat quality and quantity, food webs, and biological interactions such as competition and predation): The limiting factor is the event or condition that causes the survival bottleneck to occur. * Monitor project effectiveness: Effectiveness monitoring addresses whether restoration projects are achieving their goals by measuring environmental conditions, habitat characteristics, and biological indicators. This year, the Salmon Recovery Funding Board will award $973,855 for monitoring projects. Grant applicants may request between $5,000 and $300,000, and no match is required. The applicant must work with the regional recovery organization and email the monitoring grants manager a Letter of Intent between February 1 and March 31. Applications are due May 1. See Manual 18M: Salmon Monitoring Grants <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=c4cd826708&e=186c5ff3d1> for details about the schedule and process. <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/7d1b03e2-c5a4-cdaf-3f29-8ba7fab77d18.png> Help Stamp Out Invasives with a Boot Brush Station Helping prevent the spread of invasive species is just a quick brush away! The Washington Invasive Species Council <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=3bf120b9d3&e=186c5ff3d1> distributed thirty boot brush stations near fragile and threatened shrubsteppe habitat. The stations include stiff boot brushes and customizable, weatherproof signs. The signs describe the noxious weeds living around the station and how to prevent their spread. Land managers may add their logos and choose which two noxious weeds to highlight on the weatherproof sign. The council hopes to distribute another twenty stations in central and eastern Washington in this year. Organizations may apply for a free boot brush by emailing council staff <mailto:invasivespeciesinfo@rco.wa.gov > . Funding for the PlayCleanGo Boot Brush Stations <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=f5c866e54e&e=186c5ff3d1> came from the U.S Forest Service. See more details about the project <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=d23a2807c4&e=186c5ff3d1> on the council’s website. <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/cb11a210-2ed5-d75d-fead-e482e317527e.png> Efforts to Slow Boats to Protect Orcas Are Underway The sounds made by boats of all sizes are affecting endangered Southern Resident orcas, which spend time in Puget Sound and along Washington’s coast. The noise affects their ability to find food and communicate. To tackle the problem, Quiet Sound <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=fa1ec69806&e=186c5ff3d1> implemented a voluntary program that is helping reduce underwater noise pollution from large vessels. Quiet Sound briefed the shipping community along with the U.S. Coast Guard, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, Puget Sound Partnership, Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office, and others at the Pacific Marine Exchange Expo in Seattle. Program staff discussed their slow down efforts in Puget Sound. Commercial vessel operators are asked to voluntarily slow down, which reduces noise from the ships. The slowdown in the shipping lanes is seasonal beginning when whales are first present in the waters from Admiralty Inlet to Edwards Point and Mukilteo Lighthouse. This season, the slowdown began on October 6, 2024, and will last until January 12, 2025. Vessels also are encouraged to turn off ultrasonic anti-fouling systems to further decrease noise pollution in frequencies that killer whales use to hunt and communicate. Quiet Sound uses data from Puget Sound pilots to quantify the number of vessel transits slowing down and a hydrophone to measure underwater noise levels. Last season, underwater noise levels were reduced by half during the voluntary slowdown period. Large vessels also can benefit from information from the new Cetacean Desk in the Puget Sound Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service Office. Staff at the cetacean desk can let large ships know when whales are present so operators may navigate or slow down around the whales. These actions further reduce noise and potentially fatal ship strikes. Both the Puget Sound Partnership and the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office participate on the Quiet Sound Leadership Committee. In addition to slowing down ships, a new law expanding buffers around whales went into effect January 1. Boaters are required to stay at least one thousand yards away from Southern Resident orcas in Washington waters. Boater are encouraged to follow Be Whale Wise guidance and laws <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=a2b63355df&e=186c5ff3d1> . Learn more details about Southern Resident orcas on the orca website <https://rco.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e&id=61aec6780b&e=186c5ff3d1> . <https://mcusercontent.com/f12461e10aed86ddd51107b5e/images/a10d57a4-4981-de8e-4a5d-315fe26a6c4c.png> Stanwood Completes Another Section of Trail The City of Stanwood celebrated the completion of the latest phase of its Port Susan Trail project in October. The City used $448,000 from an RCO grant and $727,000 in Department of Commerce funds to build 1.2 miles of multiuse trail that connects Stanwood Park and Ride to Hamilton Landing Park. The trail features a boardwalk with waterfront views, parking on both ends, wayfinding signs, trail markers, and views of the majestic Cascade and Olympic Mountains. This is the second phase of the project; the first was completed in 2022. 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