Hansen Creek

Congressman visits Upper Skagit restoration project

Rep. Rick Larsen and Skagit County Commissioner Sharon Dillon watch juvenile fish swim in a new channel of Hansen Creek.

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen visited the Hansen Creek restoration site yesterday to learn about the Upper Skagit Tribe’s work with Skagit County and other agencies to restore salmon habitat and create jobs.

The Hansen Creek project received $988,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Larsen heard from the tribe’s natural resources director Doreen Maloney and Skagit County Commissioner Sharon Dillon, among others. (more…)

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SVH: Upper Skagit Tribe’s Hansen Creek project under way

The Skagit Valley Herald has a story about the Upper Skagit Tribe’s project to restore habitat along Hansen Creek in Sedro-Woolley:

Crews are moving acres of dirt and rocks as part of an effort to restore the historic floodplain of Hansen Creek to help control flooding and increase salmon and steelhead numbers.

When the excavation is complete, a new setback levee will also protect 35 acres and 140 acres of wetlands and stream habitat at the 726-acre Northern State Recreation Area for recreational purposes. (more…)

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Tribes receive recovery funding from NOAA for restoration projects

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently awarded $16.4 million from its American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009 funding to Washington state. Each of the six projects directly or indirectly involve seven western Washington tribes. Four tribes are direct recipients of funding; the other two involve either tribal contributions or benefit from the project.

NOAA’s news release here

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EPA grants $2 million to tribes for Puget Sound projects

NWIFC Chairman Billy Frank Jr. and Executive Director Mike Grayum discuss the Hansen Creek restoration project with Lauren Rich, environmental planner for the Upper Skagit TribeA number of news outlets reported on this week’s announcement of $2 million in EPA grants to tribes in support of the Puget Sound Partnership.

KING 5 News:

More than a century ago, Native American tribes watched settlers dam, dike and straighten the area’s streams and rivers.

Today the federal EPA gave those same tribes millions of dollars to undo some of those changes.

During a ceremony at a 140-acre site near the Upper Skagit Indian Reservation near Sedro-Woolley, the EPA handed over $2 million to 19 tribes to fund several restoration projects. The money will be used at that site to remove dikes and other obstacles from Hansen Creek, a major tributary of the Skagit River.

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