Portland, OR —Governor Ted Kulongoski today announced the first round of grants from the newly-established Oregon Governor's Fund for the Environment, with $346,210 going to help restore streambeds, protect fish and wildlife, reduce pollution and other environment-related purposes.

 

The Governor and U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut created the fund to establish a sustainable source of money to pay for local cleanup efforts that help protect Oregon's rivers, watersheds, fish and wildlife. The fund uses Oregon's share of the fines derived from polluters the Oregon Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office helps prosecute. The Governor's office, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administer the fund.

 

"The Governor’s Fund for the Environment demonstrates the kind of results we can deliver when all levels of government work in partnership on behalf of the citizens of Oregon," the Governor said. "Grants from the Fund will help our local communities restore habitats, clean up streams, and ensure that our children have clean air to breathe and safe water to drink."

 

U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut reiterated the value of the partnership among governments. "When polluters commit crimes in Oregon, the fines they pay will help fix our environment—thanks to our partnership with Governor Kulongoski," Immergut said.

 

"These grants will restore streambeds throughout the Willamette Basin, improve water quality for people and wildlife, and provide a better home for several threatened and endangered species of fish, plants and wildlife," said National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Executive Director Jeff Trandahl. "By gaining landowner cooperation in improving fish and wildlife habitat, we’re creating win-win solutions that will have lasting benefits for people and the natural resources we cherish."

 

The initial contribution of $2 million in community service payments resulted from the criminal prosecution of Evergreen International, a Panamanian shipping company that pled guilty to 25 environmental crimes and paid $25 million in fines– the largest criminal fine ever imposed on a defendant in a vessel-pollution case   Five of the alleged crimes occurred in Oregon.

 

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon helped prosecute the Evergreen case and directed a portion of the fine to create this new fund for the state. The U.S. Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigative Division and the Washington Department of Ecology also played critical roles in the Evergreen prosecution.

 

The amount of the grants will vary each year, based on the interest earned on the principal and the new funds deposited through criminal fines and additional private and public donations.

 

This year’s nine successful grant applicants, chosen from among 34 who applied, proposed projects that will identify, eliminate or reduce pollution, as well as restore and conserve fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and otherwise restore the quality of Oregon's rivers and streams in the Willamette Basin.

 

The grants range from $16,000-$50,000. Grant recipients will provide an additional total of $461,364 in cash or in-kind matches to their projects. The following organizations will receive grants from the Oregon Governor's Fund for the Environment for 2006:

 

Yamhill Soil and Water Conservation District: Grant $47, 423 (matching $120,585). The grant will help establish more than 15 miles of riparian buffer on private lands to provide water quality protection and wildlife habitat for cutthroat trout, steelhead salmon, Coho salmon, bald eagles, Fender's blue butterfly, and the red-legged frog. The Conservation District will work with 80 or more landowners to establish 35 to 80-foot buffers in the lowlands of the watershed. Landowners will be responsible for maintaining the buffers for 10-15 years. The project will create a "geographical information system" map to demonstrate the buffer boundaries.

 

Cascade Pacific RC&D, Inc: Grant $34,830 (matching $15,000). The organization will hold eight workshops to inform farmers of the importance of riparian areas and gain their participation in the federal Conservation Reserve and Enhancement Program (CREP). The project will complete nine CREP plans to improve water quality and habitat for fish and wildlife along the Willamette River from Albany to Eugene. It will work with the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and local Soil and Water Conservation District to provide additional outreach to agricultural landowners in an effort to improve the streamside riparian habitats in the Willamette Basin. The project will benefit threatened Chinook salmon populations and other salmon populations in the upper Willamette River.

 

Oregon State University Extension Service: Grant $16,737 (matching $9,881).

 

The Extension Service will hold conservation training for 120 small-acreage landowners in three Willamette Basin Watersheds (Calapooia, Long Tom, and Mary’s River) to help landowners implement management practices to improve water quality on their land. The project will recruit landowners through direct mailings and ads in community-based media. The training will include field tours where the participants will gain firsthand experience from neighboring agricultural farmers who implement conservation practices. Pre- and post-project evaluations will document anticipated management or behavior changes. Small-acreage landowners are, for the most part, unaware of government initiatives to improve water quality and the impacts on their operations.

 

Salmon-Safe Inc: Grant $37,000 (matching $31,400). The project seeks to transform the management of 50 Willamette Valley vineyards to fish-friendly practices, implementing water quality and biodiversity protection while building consumers' awareness of ecologically sustainable Oregon wine. Winery managers who focus on riparian and wetlands management, water use management, erosion and sediment control, chemical use management, and landscape-level biodiversity protection will gain the benefits of promotion by "Salmon Safe" labels and U.S. Department of Agriculture organic labels. The Willamette Valley supports more than 150 vineyards and presents an opportunity to reduce run-off that affects six native runs of imperiled salmon species throughout the Basin. The project would add to the 85 existing certified vineyard sites statewide—a third of Oregon’s wine production—and promote a market-based strategy to restore aquatic habitat and water quality.

 

Eugene Water & Electric Board: Grant $40,220 (matching $53,283). The project will remove a significant risk from obsolete agricultural chemicals in the McKenzie and Middle Fork Willamette Watersheds to protect drinking water resources for Oregon’s second-largest population center and critical Endangered Species Act fish habitat. Many landowners don't know how to dispose of unsecured chemicals, or they lack the resources to do so properly. The project will include education for growers, a chemical volume survey, and collection and disposal of chemicals. During the chemical collection, the project will document participation by growers, as well as the quantity and types of waste, in order to expand the opportunities for proper disposal of farm waste.

 

East Lane Soil and Water Conservation District (ELSWCD): Grant $20,000 (matching $36,215). The project will provide a technician to do outreach and restoration planning for replanting native riparian species on 1.8 miles of the Mohawk River, which has received treatment for Japanese knotweed. A mailing will go to residents along the Mohawk River, and ELSWCD will hold an annual workshop in the Mohawk watershed on riparian restoration and water quality protection. The project will publicize the results of the weed-eradication program and restoration of habitat, water quality issues, and increased awareness about the importance of riparian restoration activities.

 

Willamette Partnership: Grant $50,000 (matching $20,000). The organization will use the grant to communicate with buyers and sellers of conservation credits to initiate a Willamette Ecosystem Marketplace and launch a regional roundtable to lend credibility and guidance to market development. The project will identify viable market-driven tools to help private landowners, municipalities, industry, and others comply with regulations more efficiently and cost effectively, while generating better environmental outcomes. It will also engage local and regional organizations, agencies, and business leaders in strategies for applying market-driven conservation tools to critical natural resource issues. This project will advance learning, awareness, and knowledge of viable, voluntary market-driven tools in the Willamette Basin to enable strategic investment in ecosystem services that support the communities, economy, and fish and wildlife.

 

Mary’s River Watershed Council: Grant $50,000 (matching $66,000). The Watershed Council will provide technical assistance to eight mid-Willamette Valley watershed councils to identify, develop, and implement restoration and protection projects to restore and conserve fish, wildlife, and plant resources. The councils will partner with landowners to recruit participation in priority restoration projects. The project will teach landowners about applicable landowner incentive programs, such as CREP and WRP (the Wetlands Reserve Program).

 

Policy Consensus Initiative: Grant $50,000 (matching $109,000). The project will help growers develop sustainable agriculture practices and goals by creating the Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Resource Center (OSARC) at Oregon State University. The project will lead growers to existing certification programs to adopt and demonstrate habitat enhancement, erosion control, pest management, and irrigation efficiency. Several OSARC pilot projects will be launched and partnered with NORPAC Food, Inc., to demonstrate the benefits of sustainable management practices. Locating the OSARC outreach program at Oregon State University provides the potential to reach many farmers and bring about sustainable practices on a wide scale. The project will directly respond to the significant conservation needs in the Willamette Basin, including loss of aquatic habitat (wetlands, in-stream, off-channel, riparian, and floodplain), loss of upland habitat (oak woodlands, savannas, and prairie), at-risk aquatic and upland species, impaired water quality, lack of stream flows, and invasive species.

 

Media Contacts:

Lonn Hoklin (503.378.6169)

Anna Richter Taylor (503.378.6496)