Washington Coast Sustainable Salmon Foundation

The Washington Coast Sustainable Salmon Foundation (Foundation) is the sister organization and fiscal sponsor of the Washington Coast Sustainable Salmon partnership (partnership). Together, the two organizations work to protect and restore pacific Salmon populations in the Washington Coast region, which comprises all watersheds that drain directly into the pacific ocean between cape flattery and cape disappointment (3.75 million acres). This work is guided by the Washington Coast Sustainable Salmon plan (Salmon plan). The Foundation is responsible for financial management, contracting, fundraising, and outreach needed for the partnership to successfully implement the Salmon plan. Foundation staff support both plan implementation and financial, fundraising, and outreach activities. Salmon plan implementation: implementation of the Salmon plan includes coordinating with local watershed groups on the strategic development and prioritization of habitat restoration projects, which are then proposed for funding through eligible funding sources. Each year, an average of 1.7 million on-the-ground habitat restoration and protection projects are implemented in the region through grants from Washington state's Salmon recovery funding board. In addition, the Foundation has played a pivotal role in securing an additional 12 million in habitat project funding from the state capital budget through the Washington Coast restoration and resiliency initiative. This effort has involved a broad coalition of local, state, and nonprofit organization representatives who work together to restore Coast ecosystems thereby benefiting coastal communities that depend on them. The Foundation continually pursues additional funding opportunities to support implementation of the Salmon plan. In the past four years, this has included more than 1.4 million in government and private funding sources to support the coldwater connection campaign. This campaign will accelerate restoration work with the goal of 50 projects in 10 years to re-connect 40% of the cold-water Salmon and steelhead streams that are blocked by outdated culverts and other "mini-dams" on rivers of the olympic peninsula. Communication and outreach: a communications and outreach strategy was developed in 2016 to elevate public awareness of the Salmon plan. The Foundation is implementing this strategy with its strong Salmon future campaign which was launched in 2022. Activities include project signage, field tours for elected officials, and local business outreach. Public speaking activities include presentations at regional and national conferences and in-person discussion with community groups. Activities also leverage media platforms including a website, an e-newsletter, social media, and guest features in regional newspapers and partner newsletters. The purpose of these activities is to communicate how the work of the Coast Salmon partnership contributes to the ecological and economic resiliency of the Washington Coast region. Esa-listed Salmon species: the Washington Coast region is the only Salmon recovery region within Washington state that is not dominated by Salmon species listed as threatened or endangered under the endangered species act(esa). However, lake ozette sockeye Salmon and bull trout are listed as threatened under esa. As the regional Salmon recovery organization, the partnership works with national oceanic and atmospheric administration as well as state agencies and tribal governments on the implementation of the lake ozette sockeye recovery plan and with the us fish and wildlife service on the implementation of the bull trout recovery plan. Two additional species in the wahsington Coast region are currently under consideration for listing under the endangered species act - olympic peninsula steelhead and Washington Coast spring chinook.