Three local projects have received funding from the Pacific Salmon Foundation that will help them carry out work to protect salmon and their habitat.
The Sts'ailes First Nation have received $40,000 toward a $131,000 project to help mitigate impacts to salmon habitat up at the Innergex independent hydro-power project at Tretheway Creek. They are also hoping to help re-establish coho, chum and cutthroat trout productivity in the Harrison River Slough.
In Harrison, the Miami River Streamkeepers Society received $6,534 toward a project worth $28,094 that will see replanting along the Miami River greenway. This work is being done to increase salmon habitat.
Another local group, ACES (Actively Creating an Exceptional Society) has received $1,235 toward their $2,555 project that will see volunteers removing, treating and disposing of invasive knotweed that is currently threatening salmon habitat at Lake Errock and Holatchen Creek in Mission.
The Pacific Salmon Foundation awarded 121 different projects across B.C. with grants totaling $1.5 million, as part of its Community Salmon Program.
The total value of all of those project, including volunteer time and community fundraising, adds up to $91. million.
The grants were awarded to programs that focus on habitat restoration, salmon enhancement, education, and community awareness. Funding for these grants was generated through sales of the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Stamp, commonly known as the “Salmon Stamp” through Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
“This year’s funding announcement is the largest in the history of the Foundation’s Community Salmon Program,” said Dr. Brian Riddell, president and CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation “But the most important point is that for every $1 that the Foundation grants another $6 is generated within local communities. This tremendous leverage is what helped the federal government to decide in 2013 to return 100 per cent of Salmon Stamp funds to British Columbia.”
In addition to funds generated from the sales of the federal “Salmon Stamp”, the grants are made possible by Pacific Salmon Foundation fundraising dinners, auctions and donations from individuals, foundations and businesses. The Salmon Stamp is a decal that must be purchased annually by anglers if they wish to keep Pacific salmon caught in saltwater off of Canada’s West Coast