Cowlitz Restoration & Recovery Project
Do you have an innovative idea for a habitat or hatchery-associated production project that would help endangered salmon and steelhead in the upper Cowlitz River basin? We want to hear it!
Tacoma Power established the Cowlitz Restoration and Recovery (CRR) Fund as part of its federal license to operate the Mayfield and Mossyrock dams. The goal of the $18 million fund is to support activities that protect and promote recovery of endangered salmon species in the upper Cowlitz River basin, such as in partnership
- Habitat projects, or activities that lead them, aimed at protection or restoration, in partnership with the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board
- Hatchery-associated production projects aimed at reintroduction and recovery of target upper Cowlitz River basin populations
- Habitat assessments to guide protection and restoration activities
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- Any conservation group registered as a non-profit
- Native American Tribes
- Regional fisheries enhancement groups
- Conservation Districts
- Local and state governmental entities
- Federal agencies
- Private landowners are allowed to propose restoration projects on their own property, but not acquisition projects
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- The entire Cowlitz River basin upstream of Mayfield Dam
- The Cowlitz River mainstem and tributary mouths between Mayfield Dam and the mouth of the Toutle River
Program documents (below) have additional details on geographic and species priorities.
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The fund is administered by Tacoma Power with oversight by the Cowlitz Fisheries Technical Committee (FTC). For grant rounds, Tacoma Power partners with the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board (LCFRB) for habitat proposals and runs a stand-alone round for hatchery-associated projects. Proposals are evaluated based on benefit to fish, certainty of success, cost benefit, and CRR priorities. The FTC reviews all funding recommendations and determines funding awards.
The fund will be spent down entirely before our federal license expires in 2037. Future grant-round schedules and amounts may vary.
Planning to apply?
Check out the LCFRB’s CRR website for information on habitat grants. Draft applications are due at noon on March 30th.
Tacoma Power is looking for future applications for hatchery-associated production grants (learn more in this 2022 presentation). Required letters of intent for 2026 were due February 23rd.
See the websites above for pre-application requirements.
Year-round engagement is encouraged to prepare for future grant rounds.
Meanwhile, see the implementation plan and CRR Implementation Strategy (updated in 2024) for more details about the program.
Questions?
Contact Melora Shelton 253-441-4994
Want to learn more?
- CRR Implementation Strategy (updated in 2024)
- CRR Implementation Plan (2014)
- Fisheries & Hatchery Management Plan (2020)
Additional information available by request:
- Randle-area LiDAR
- Upper Cowlitz and Cispus Geomorphic Assessment
- Randle-area Hydrodynamic Model (2D HEC-RAS)
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- FERC order approving implementation of Cowlitz Restoration and Recovery Fund Plan
- LCFRB Salmon Recovery Grant Round (match opportunity, in addition to the CRR Program)
- Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) Salmon Recovery Grant (match opportunity)
- Lower Columbia Salmon Recovery and Fish and Wildlife Subbasin Plan (Recovery Plan)
- Upper Cowlitz-Cispus Restoration Strategy
- See this page for LCFRB’s habitat website, including the Upper Cowlitz-Cispus Restoration Strategy
- For questions or associated document appendices contact LCFRB’s Amelia Johnson: ajohnson@lcfrb.gen.wa.us
- Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board Salmon Resource Map
- Statewide Washington Integrated Fish Distribution GIS