A lot happened in 2016. Here are a few highlights from the past 12 months:
The Columbia River Basin Restoration Act (CRBRA) was signed into law by President Obama as part of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act. The CRBRA establishes a competitive grant program to help local groups voluntarily clean up, monitor, and reduce the use of toxics within the Columbia River Basin. The Estuary Partnership has worked toward passage of the CRBRA since 2009, and we are thrilled and thankful to the broad coalition of partners who worked on the bill. We couldn't have this accomplishment without the steadfast support of our Northwest Congressional Delegation, especially Senator Merkley and Congressman Blumenauer. Read more at OPB.
We expanded our work to connect local residents and students to Vancouver Lake. We've hosted community paddles in our Big Canoes, volunteer plantings, a beach clean up, an Eco-Blitz species inventory, and an open house. We've taken hundreds of students from 5 local schools to learn hands-on science at the lake. We are excited to announce that this work will continue at least through the end of 2018. Thanks to Clark County, City of Vancouver, and Port of Vancouver USA for supporting our work at Vancouver Lake! Read more.
Our proposed 900-acre habitat restoration at Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge passed significant hurdles this year. In addition to advancing in the permitting process, the project was recommended for funding for a Floodplains By Design grant from Washington Department of Ecology, The Nature Conservancy, and the Puget Sound Partnership, though it needs final legislative approval for funding. Construction could begin in 2018. In addition, planned projects on Upper Hamilton Creek and two side channels of the East Fork Lewis River, both in Washington, received funding from the Lower Columbia Fish Recover Board. Stay tuned!
We worked with community members and our partner Depave to remove concrete on 864 square feet of the schoolyard at Vernon K-8 School in NE Portland. The permeable squares will help to filter stormwater from the mostly-paved schoolyard, and feature trees for habitat and benches for relaxation. Vernon 5th graders also got a series of lessons on watershed science.
Two Estuary Partnership-led projects won awards! Our project at Batwater Station won the Oregon State Land Board's Wetland Award. The project restored tidal influence to wetlands on the property to create critical wildlife habitat. In addition, our partner Inter-Fluve received an Honor Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Oregon for their work on our Horsetail Creek Floodplain Retoration Project, which improved fish passage to 190 acres of floodplain habitat and restored 36 acres of riparian wetlands.
We continued our study of cold water refuges in the lower Columbia River. Cold water refuges are critical for salmonids migrating through the mainstem Columbia, which frequently reaches temperatures that are stressful for salmon during the summer months. Our study is part of a Basin-wide study by EPA; this study is critical to help identify habitat to protect or restore endangered salmon runs. Results from our 2016 monitoring will be available soon.
We hosted student and/or volunteer stewardship projects at 14 sites.
In Washington: Salmon Creek, Vancouver Lake, La Center Bottoms, and Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge
In Oregon: Sandy River Delta, Benson State Recreation Area, Oxbow Regional Park, Batwater Station, Wapato Access Greenway State Park, Scappoose Bay, Coffenbury Lake, Hudson Park, Horsetail Falls, and Meldrum Bar Park