[env-trinity] Trump, House split on proposal to eliminate salmon restoration funding

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.times-standard.com/general-news/20170726/trump-house-split-on-proposal-to-eliminate-salmon-restoration-funding&template=printart



Trump, House split on proposal to eliminate salmon restoration funding

State, tribes say funding is ‘essential’ for local restoration efforts
By Will Houston, Eureka Times-StandardWednesday, July 26, 2017In the midst of one of the lowest West Coast salmon runs on record, the White House is proposing to eliminate tens of millions of dollars in federal funding used since 2000 to prevent the extinction of 28 salmon and steelhead species in the western U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget outline proposes to cut this “lower priority” program and would instead shift funding responsibilities for these programs back to states and tribes.This year, the Yurok and Hoopa Valley tribes in the lower Klamath River basin received their lowest federal allocation of fall-run Chinook salmon in their history, affecting not only their economies, but also their cultural practices and food supply. “It’s not like the problem has been solved,” Yurok Tribe Fisheries Director Dave Hillemeier said. “There is still a lot of work out there that needs to be done to recover these stocks. We feel [the federal funding] is a great investment for the future and for the local economies that depend on the fisheries and the Yurok way of life to keep these money flowing to the West Coast so we can continue to address the problems that are facing our salmon populations, conduct meaningful in-stream restoration.”Created by Congress in 2000, the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund has provided about $1.6 billion in funding to five Western states — California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Idaho — and Native American tribes, including the Hoopa Valley, Karuk and Yurok tribes, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.The funds are used for a variety of projects such as restoring fish spawning and rearing habitat, disease monitoring and to leverage billions more dollars from other grant programs, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.The salmon recovery funds are one of several programs the White House’s 2018 budget proposes to eliminate. Trump’s budget proposal states that these funds are not “optimally targeted” and that they favor certain species and geographic areas. But the House Appropriations Committee is choosing not to follow Trump’s proposal and plans to provide $65 million to the salmon recovery program in the 2018 budget— the same amount the program received for 2017.The National Marine Fisheries Service administers the salmon recovery funding, which has been used to preserve and restored over 1 million acres of salmon habitat and opened another 9,100 miles of streams for spawning fish, according to the service. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has received close to $200 million from the fund since 2000, which it uses to fund it own competitive grant program created in 1981 to address declining salmon and steelhead populations.The department’s Fisheries Branch Chief Kevin Shaffer said the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund is both an “essential and wonderful” funding source for their grant-funded restoration projects, which stretch from the Mexican border to the Oregon border. A particular focus has been on threatened coho salmon populations in the Klamath River basin and central areas of the state, Shaffer said.Because salmon populations travel across various types of habitat between different states, Shaffer said they and the other Western states that receive the federal funding would have to regroup should Trump’s plan prevail.“We’ll deal with that road if we cross it,” Shaffer said.Local tribes receive funding through the Klamath River Inter-Tribal Fish and Water Commission, which is composed of the Klamath Tribes of Oregon as well as the Yurok, Hoopa Valley, Karuk tribes.Hillemeier said the program is a primary funding source for the tribal commission and provides about $600,000 to $700,000 each year that can be supplemented by other state grants. The funds have been used by the Yurok Tribe to study fish diseases and parasites such as an intestinal parasite that is estimated to have killed up to 90 percent of juvenile salmon on the lower Klamath River in 2014 and 2015.These die-offs have been cited by state and tribal researchers as a cause of this year’s historically low salmon run on the Klamath River.“I think the status of the stocks indicates that more, not less of this type of funding is needed,” Hillemeier said.Hoopa Valley Tribe Fisheries Director Mike Orcutt said the federal program is not a major source of the intertribal commission’s funding, but said it is used to fund the commission’s operations, leverage more funds from the state and fund restoration projects. One such project by the Hoopa Valley Tribe was to create a management plan for the brown trout, which Orcutt said was introduced to the Trinity River and is feeding on federally-protected salmon species in the river.With states having been given hundreds of millions from the fund since 2000, Orcutt said he hopes those states’ Congressional representatives will oppose Trump’s proposal.“The broad base of support from the four or five different states will hopefully be able to maintain some level of funding for that fund,” Orcutt said.Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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