California Delta salmon, habitat restoration projects getting millions in state grant funding
California is awarding $50 million in grants to an array of projects to support salmon populations and habitat restorations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and statewide.
The grants from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will support 15 projects as part of the $200 million it is distributing for restoration, including $100 million for protecting salmon against drought and climate change, the department said in a press statement.
The projects address water and habitat impacted by climate, restoration of wetlands and mountain meadows, and the creation of wildlife corridors, the department said. Several projects will directly support Gov. Gavin Newsom's salmon strategy that outlines priorities for future years of heat and drought.
"These new investments are a key component to how we will restore California's salmon population for the long-term, and we're doing it in partnership with the local communities and tribes who have been dealing with these issues for generations," Newsom said in a prepared statement.
"Timing is everything and we have an opportunity to address the unrelenting threat of extreme climate and weather patterns through supporting these projects," said CDFW Director Chuck Bonham in a statement. "This support and collaboration from the restoration community is ensuring the long-term sustainability of our natural resources for generations to come."
In January, Newsom pledged to fast-track over half a dozen projects by the end of his term to remove or bypass dams blocking salmon from returning to the state's mountain streams. The environmentally-conscious Newsom has been criticized by some environmental groups who say his water policies benefit big agriculture at the expense of salmon and other fish species in danger of becoming extinct.
Millions of salmon once filled California's rivers and streams each year, bringing with them key nutrients from the ocean that gave the state an abundance of natural resources that were so important to indigenous peoples that they formed the foundation of creation stories central to tribes' way of life.
But last year, there were so few salmon in the state's rivers that the officials closed the commercial fishing season.