Grant Program

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Pioneers in Conservation

Deadline: November 4, 2005

Link: www.sharedsalmonstrategy.org/pioneers/index.htm

Funding available for salmon recovery projects on agricultural land. Grants between $25,000 and $150,000 are available for salmon recovery projects on agricultural land from the Pioneers in Conservation grants program. The application deadline is Nov. 4, 2005. Grants are available to individual farmers, farm and non-profit organizations, conservation districts, or tribes for projects on agricultural lands in the Puget Sound Basin. Projects must provide innovative, cost-effective, on-the-ground benefits for restoring or protecting salmon habitat, and must demonstrate a willing partnership between the applicant and an active farmer or rancher who owns or works the land where the project will be completed. A minimum 50-percent match from local, non-federal funds is required. The Pioneers in Conservation grants program was created by Shared Strategy through funding provided primarily by the National Fish and Wildlife Association, with contributions from The Nature Conservancy and Tulalip Tribes, to support early implementation of the agriculture portion of the Draft Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan. For more information and application materials, visit www.sharedsalmonstrategy.org/pioneers/index.htm or contact Don Stuart, American Farmland Trust, 253-446-9384 or dstuart@farmland.org

Local Recipients:

  • Dungeness River Irrigation Water Conservation Project - $99,190. The Conservation District will use the funds to improve water quality and increase in-stream flows in the Dungeness River by treating contaminated drainage at a site that employs fungus to treat contaminated water, and by converting two open irrigation ditches to buried pipelines. By burying the pipelines, livestock access will be eliminated, farmers will benefit from increased water use efficiencies while leaving more water in the river for fish. This project makes good on a previous agreement between the farming community and salmon recovery planners to reduce water use out of the over-appropriated Dungeness River. For more First Round Recipients, click here.