16 july 2004
Media Contact:
Jim Heffernan,
Policy Analyst
(503) 731-1287
Laura Gephart,
Project Implementation Coordinator
(503) 502-5934
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Tribal
fish restoration gets million-dollar boost
Portland, Oregon
- The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration this week finalized a $2.34 million
grant to the Columbia Basin treaty tribes under the federal Pacific
Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund for regional fish-restoration projects.
NOAA Fisheries, which administers the program initiated in 2000 by
states, tribes and Congress to help conduct local conservation and
restoration efforts, retroactively granted the award for the October
2003-September 2004 fiscal year. The program is critical to tribal
and state efforts – in conjunction with local governments, watershed
councils and federal agencies – to implement habitat conservation
and restoration projects, supplementation programs, research and monitoring.
A science team comprising members of the Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs
and Nez Perce tribes' technical staff will review 30 new projects
proposed under the fund. The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission,
which coordinates the award, will select approved projects by late
fall based on project criteria and performance standards established
by the states and tribes.
CRITFC and its member tribes have launched nearly 100 salmon- and
habitat-restoration projects funded by this program, with nearly half
of them completed. The Columbia River treaty tribes, along with other
participating tribes and states, strongly support the Administration's
and the regional Congressional delegation's efforts to increase funding
for this program
More salmon-restoration project details, including descriptions and
before-after photographs, are available online at www.critfc.org.
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About CRITFC
The Portland-based Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is
the technical support and coordinating agency for fishery management
policies of the Columbia River Basin's four treaty tribes: the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes
and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe.
CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, public
information specialists, policy analysts and administrators who work
in fisheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning and coordination,
harvest control and law enforcement. |
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