A second round of funds for restoration projects on the Mendenhall River in Southeast Alaska has been recommended for the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, NOAA Fisheries officials announced on Thursday, July 18.
The coalition is to work with the community and local collaborators to assess and design restoration projects for the river, in response to reoccurring high water releases due to climate change, which are causing flooding and erosion.
The projects are to serve as examples for restoration versus riprap for anticipated future climate change events, and aim to shift thinking to solutions that are salmon habitat-friendly while also mitigating flood risk for landowners.
Funding for the project included $750,000 in the first year and up to $1.5 million total over three years.
The project is one of 32 transformational habitat restoration and coastal resilience projects that NOAA is recommending this year to share in $220 million in funds, as well as an additional $66 million in funding in future years. The projects are funded under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, a historic investment in strengthening the climate resilience of the country’s coastal ecosystems and communities.
Many of these projects are advancing efforts that have decades of financial and technical support from NOAA and partners.
The list also includes first round funding of $3.8 million for the National Forest Foundation to restore salmon habitat in Resurrection Creek on the Kenai Peninsula, an area historically altered by gold mining. Resurrection Creek supports one of the largest sport fisheries in North America. This effort will benefit numerous salmon species and support prey for Cook Inlet beluga whales, a NOAA Special in the Spotlight.
It will also provide benefits such as flood reduction and job creation to nearby communities like the town of Hope.
NOAA officials note that Cook Inlet beluga whales, a highly social, gregarious animal are the smallest and geographically isolated from Alaska’s other four beluga stocks. They are a valuable part of the regional Alaska Native subsistence diet, but the hunt for Cook Inlet belugas has been suspended since 2007 because this whale population has not recovered as expected.
NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation has a long history of supporting habitat restoration efforts through large-scale competitive funding opportunities and expert technical assistance. NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program has partnered with over 2,600 organizations on over 2,200 projects since 1996. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act provides further opportunity for the agency to continue supporting fisheries, protected resources and coastal communities. First round funding opportunities alone included awards of over $480 million for 109 projects nationwide.
