Central Oregon farmers, environmentalists and other stakeholders have long worked in close partnership to address natural resource issues and endangered species listings.

While local expertise is central to our collaborative approach, the federal government also has an integral role as a source of funding to help provide our communities and environment balance, protection of resources, and economic prosperity.

The president’s proposed 2018 budget zeroed out that vital funding. Fortunately, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and he successfully preserved programs that support the conservation work of Crooked River Watershed Council and our partners

In the 2018 Science Appropriations bill, which passed out of the Appropriations Committee this summer, Sen. Merkley preserved the $65 million Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund or PCSRF. We sincerely thank Sen. Merkley for working to protect the resources and partnerships that our region has developed. We need Congress and the president to preserve that funding in the final 2018 budget.

How does this funding help with that mission?

The Habitat Conservation and Restoration Program funds grant opportunities such as the Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration grant program, which provides funding for restoration projects that use a habitat-based approach to promote productive and sustainable fisheries, improve the recovery and conservation of protected resources, and promote healthy ecosystems and local economies.

We are pursuing one of these grants to address the second highest-priority fish passage project in Oregon. We hope to win $1.2 million for the Opal Springs project, located near the bottom end of the Crooked River watershed. The Crooked provides important habitat, including traditional spawning grounds, especially for steelhead, so addressing this barrier would directly support salmon reintroduction.

The $65 million fund is a competitive grant program designed to address declining Pacific salmon and steelhead populations by supporting conservation in Oregon and several other key Western states. Since 2000, the program has funded $2.4 billion in projects that have helped prevent the extinction of the 28 listed salmon and steelhead species on the West Coast.

We use PCSRF to implement projects guided by federal and state recovery plans for the Middle Columbia steelhead — the Crooked River’s iconic anadromous fish species that is listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

Over the past decade, the Crooked River Watershed Council has combined PCSRF with money from other state and private sector sources to implement fish passage, screening, and habitat improvement projects. You can witness these improvements, from the fish ladder at Crooked River Central; to the fish by-pass channel and fish screen at Peoples Irrigation Company diversion; to the full removal of Stearns Dam; and a variety of passage solutions at six other smaller diversions, mostly in McKay Creek watershed.

We’re working with the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board to use PCSRF allocated to Oregon to develop a fish passage at one of the top-ranked barriers in the state. For partners like the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, federal grants are essential. The board requires a nonstate match in its grant awards. If the fund is reduced or eliminated, many fish-focused projects that we have planned — and some that have even advanced to engineered designs — will likely be deferred to a future, longer schedule, or perhaps be abandoned.

Oregon always has been a leader in natural resource management because of our unique, collaborative approach. We need the federal government to continue to be a partner in supporting our effort. Thanks to Sen. Merkley, Congress has the opportunity to do so. We call on Congress to seize this opportunity and remain a partner in providing balance in our communities and environment; protecting our natural resources; and promoting economic prosperity for Central Oregon.

— Chris M. Gannon is the director of the Crooked River Watershed Council