For Immediate Release

May 4, 2006

FUNDING OF PUGET SOUND PROGRAM
INCREASED IN INTERIOR SPENDING BILL

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A House panel today boosted funding for an account created last year within the EPA budget to coordinate Puget Sound cleanup efforts, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said Thursday.

            The Interior appropriations subcommittee approved $6 million for the Puget Sound program, up from $2 million in the current year, ramping up the federal participation in the research and remediation program modeled after similar efforts on the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes, Rep. Dicks said.   The EPA funds contribute to a broader environmental effort launched in Washington State involving state, city and county agencies as well as Indian tribes and citizen groups, the congressman noted.  Washington Governor Christine Gregoire has created a “Puget Sound Partnership” as one of the state’s highest environmental action priorities, and she has sought –and obtained – increased funding from the legislature to intensify research, monitoring and pollution control efforts at the state level.

             He said the account that was established in the EPA appropriations bill for the current year “has added a much clearer federal focus to the ongoing research and pollution abatement activities within the agency, and it will allow us to be more efficient and effective in targeting the resources we have available to the most urgent water quality problems in the Sound.”

             Rep. Dicks is the ranking Democratic member of the Interior subcommittee, which is responsible for appropriating funding for the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and other Interior Department agencies, as well as the Forest Service and the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency.   The Puget Sound funding was included in the spending bill today for the fiscal year that begins on October 1, 2006.

             Also approved today was another large increment in the Elwha River restoration project, initiated by the National Park Service several years ago to remove the two dams on the Elwha River and restore what was once a thriving salmon fishery on the Olympic Peninsula.  Because most of the River has been protected within the Olympic National Park, removing the dams  offers the unique possibility of re-creating an ideal salmon spawning habitat that has been largely untouched by the development that has degraded most other rivers and streams in the region, Rep. Dicks said.

             The appropriations bill for the next fiscal year adds $20 million for the Elwha effort, bringing the total federal funding approved by Congress for the project to $151.7 the congressman said.

             Funding for major construction projects at Mount Rainier National Park are also included in the bill, with $2.791 allocated for continued renovation of the Jackson Visitors Center and $8.08 million budgeted for the restoration work that is now underway at Paradise Inn – both located at the 5,400-foot level of the 14,411-foot peak.  The bill also adds $1.5 million for acquisition of lands within the expanded boundaries of the park.  In 2004, 800 acres of old-growth forest on the northwest border was added by Congress to the park, creating a wildlife corridor for migrating elk and other animals.

             Several other northwest fisheries enhancement programs are also funded in the bill – either through the Fish & Wildlife Service account, the U.S. Geological Survey or the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) budget.  Included are:

• Continued funding for the “Long Live the Kings” salmon recovery effort on Hood Canal - $200,000
• Salmon Habitat Restoration activities conducted by the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group - $200,000
• National Fish & Wildlife Foundation - Washington State Salmon recovery grants to local organizations - $1.5 million
• Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups – for recovery and habitat work along fish runs on private lands - $1.4 million
• Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen research program, within U.S. Geological Survey, examining causes of low oxygen levels that have killed large numbers of salmon in recent years. - $100,000
• Environmental Data Quality and Access Improvement Project, coordinated by Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife - $500,000
• Spartina Eradication Program on Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge – continued removal of the Spartina alterniflora weed in Willapa Bay- $1.2 million
• Expansion of Spartina Eradication effort to a similar problem in Grays Harbor - $300,000

             In addition, the Interior bill continues a program launched in the Pacific Northwest three years ago by Rep. Dicks that identifies hatchery raised salmon stocks in order to protect threatened and endangered species.  It requires hatchery fish to be visibly distinguished by clipping the small, unused adipose fin on each fish.  A total of $2.5 million ($1 million in BIA; $1.5 million in U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) was approved for this “mass marking” effort in the upcoming fiscal year.

            Also within the budget of the Forest Service, the bill funds the requested amount in the President’s budget for the Tahuya Headwaters Pope project – ranked among the top 20 projects in the agency’s “Forest Legacy” program.  The Forest Service budget also includes $1 million in land acquisition funding for purchases along the Columbia River Gorge.

            Finally, within the EPA’s “State and Tribal Assistance Grants” budget, the bill adds another $1 million for continued wastewater infrastructure and water quality improvement on Hood Canal, concentrating in the next year on the Skokomish Indian Reservation.

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