South Sound Riparian Workshop

Thank you to all of the project sponsors and funders who attended the South Sound Riparian Workshop on June 7th, 2024. We had over 70 people in attendance on June 7th! It was incredibly inspiring and encouraging to see the strategic partnerships and collaboration that came out of this workshop. We want to sincerely thank the IGNITE speakers for sharing riparian project needs and funding gaps, as well as funders for their openness to best understand how to support riparian project development.

We are continuing to pull together the meeting notes and key takeaways to share with funding organizations. In the meantime, this page provides an overview of the presentations shared during the event. If you are looking to connect with other participants at the workshop, please let us know and we can facilitate a connection (we aren’t posting the participant list to help with privacy and email spam but are happy to make connections via email).

Funders Contact Information and Presentations:

Nick Vira – Washington State Natural Resource Conservation Service. Nick can be contacted at nick.vira@usda.gov.

• Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) – Voluntary program administered by the USDA NRCS that provides farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners financial and technical assistance to implement conservation practices, including riparian buffers. Eligible buffer widths start at 35ft up to 200ft and both operators and property owners are eligible. Learn more HERE.

Nick Norton – Recreation and Conservation Office. Nick can be contacted at nicholas.norton@rco.wa.gov.

• Salmon Recovery Funding Board Riparian Funding – $25 million for riparian funding to be distributed this biennium with each lead entity receiving no less than $300,000 of this funding. A total of $9.8 million will be allotted to Puget Sound lead entities. This is happening now and the initial agreements for awards will be in October 2024. You can find more information on policies and guidelines HERE.

Paul Cereghino – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Paul can be contacted at paul.r.cereghino@noaa.gov.

• Community Based Habitat Restoration Program – $1.3 billion, 4 grant programs. Two national criteria based, peer review process grants that can include costs that cover riparian work. These funds are focused on fisheries and ESA recovery. Emphasis on coalition requests, multi-benefit projects, and amplifying the community voice. These are 3–4-year flexible, cooperative agreements. There is a separate pot of funds for Tribal and underserved communities. Learn more HERE.

Colin Hume – WA Department of Ecology. Colin can be contact at colin.hume@ecy.wa.gov or 425-395-5283.

• Climate Resilience Riparian Systems Lead (CR2SL) – The CR2SL is a partnership between the WDOE, the State Conservation Commission (WSCC) and Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) that supports restoring and protecting riparian areas in Puget Sound. The final work plan was approved, and the program officially launched on Oct 1, 2023. Funding will be dispersed incrementally over the first 4 years of the 6-year agreement. In summer and fall of 2024 initial request for proposals will be released and after that two or more additional solicitations for RFPs will go out. Learn more HERE.

Olivia Williams – U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services. Olivia can be contacted at Olivia_williams@fws.gov.

• National Fish Passage Program: National funds providing technical and financial assistance focused on improving fish passage. $50k-250k ranked in their office. The RFP will go out in the fall. Projects must benefit ESA species and demonstrate fish passage benefits. Projects can include culvert replacements, restoring natural processes, floodplain connection. On the ground work, assessment and design are all eligible. Learn more HERE.

Josh Giuntoli– WA State Conservation Commission. View the Riparian Grant Program info sheet HERE. Josh can be contacted at jgiuntoli@scc.wa.gov.

• Riparian Grant Program – $25 million Climate Commitment Act (CCA) funding to restore and protect riparian habitat, structured with a wide range of project eligibility, for distribution to Conservation Districts exclusively. Private, tribal, federal, state, non-profit and local government land ownerships are eligible. All stream types regardless of salmonid presence are eligible and the timeline is ongoing. Learn more HERE.
• Riparian Plant Propagation Program – This funding provides coordination between nurseries, CDs and local partners to increase plant availability, match plants with projects, and support statewide salmon recovery efforts. For propagation, nurseries can apply annually in the spring. CDs can apply in June for funds to support cultivation. Restoration partners can fill out an annual form to assess plant needs and contract grow orders. Propagation nurseries can receive funds for labor, trees and shrubs, and materials. CDs can receive funds for cultivation efforts to cover infrastructure, materials, trees and shrubs, and labor. Learn more HERE.

IGNITE Speakers

Heather Green (HeatherG@piercecd.org) – Pierce Conservation District. Heather presented on the Importance and Challenges of Stewarding Riparian Plantings.

Evan Bauder (evan@masoncd.org) – Mason Conservation District. Evan presented on the Challenges and Successes of Riparian Projects in Mason County.

Keith Folkerts (Keith.Folkerts@dfw.wa.gov) – Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. Keith presented on the Riparian Data Engine.

Mark and Jake Heckert (MarkHeckert@Outlook.com) – South Sound Beavers. They presented on Beaver Habitat Restoration in the Puget Sound.

Speaker Presentations and Agenda

You can view the South Sound Riparian Workshop Agenda and PowerPoint Presentations HERE.