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OWEB Board to Consider Nearly $23 Million in Statewide Requests for Watershed Enhancement Projects
September 12, 2008
News media contacts:
- Carolyn M. Devine, OWEB Communications Coordinator, (503) 986-0195
Board will also check in on previous investments: Williamson River Delta and Chiloquin Dam
The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board will meet in Klamath Falls, September 16 & 17 to consider nearly $23 million in grant application requests from around the state. The meetings, beginning at 8 a.m., are open to the public and will be held at the Ross Ragland Cultural Center, 218 North 7th Street. For more information, visit the OWEB Web site at www.oregon.gov/OWEB. Click on "Board and Director's Office" on the left menu or call 503-986-0178.
Grant proposals include requests for a variety of watershed enhancement projects such as replacing undersized culverts, planting trees along river banks, or placing large wood into creeks to re-create a more natural stream flow and wildlife habitat. The size, scope and types of projects vary greatly. All involve local landowners voluntarily working with community groups such as watershed councils to restore their rivers and land for fish, wildlife and water quality.
The meeting also includes a tour on Tuesday, September 16, of two previous OWEB investments near Klamath Falls. The first stop will be the Williamson River Delta where last fall, large sections of levees were removed with explosives. This action reconnected the lake and delta and biologists believe this will help improve the habitat for the Endangered Lost River and shortnose sucker fish. OWEB invested more than $2 million in the project. Besides helping with the initial levee removal, OWEB is also supporting data collection on the positive effect the restored wetland will have on Upper Klamath Lake. Prior to the levee removal, the Williamson River was a source of phosphorous that entered the lake. It is thought that a healthy wetland will trap this nutrient causing less of it to enter the lake. The second stop of the tour will be the site of the former Chiloquin Dam on the Sprague River in Chiloquin. OWEB invested over $328,000 for the installation of a power source, pumps, and an irrigation pumping station. OWEB's investment means that irrigation for farming has been able to continue now that the dam is removed. Federal funds were used to remove the dam itself. Two federally listed endangered fish species now have unimpeded access to approximately 80 miles of potential upstream habitat. Deconstruction of the Chiloquin Dam is the culmination of years of negotiation among the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Klamath Tribes and the Bureau of Reclamation.
About the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
OWEB is a state agency that invests in local actions across the state to conserve and restore habitat supporting fish and wildlife. OWEB funding comes from the Oregon Lottery as a result of a citizen initiative in 1998, sales of salmon license plates, federal salmon funds and other sources.
* NOTE to editors/reporters: Soon after the meeting, OWEB will post a list of projects approved at this meeting by OWEB Region at http://oregon.gov/OWEB/GRANTS/grant_board_decisions.shtml.
* Media are invited to attend the tour of the two representative restoration projects, please let us know if we should expect your participation. We're meeting in front of the Ross Ragland Cultural Center. Klamath Falls on Tuesday, September 16 at 2:45 p.m.
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