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Congress appropriates $2 million to protect Skagit River

Larsen, Dicks, Murray, Cantwell praised for playing critical role

Seattle, WA — October 18, 2001 — The Nature Conservancy of Washington applauded passage Wednesday of federal legislation appropriating $2 million to safeguard key stretches of the Skagit River and its major tributaries, considered one of the healthiest and most important salmon-bearing river systems in the state.

The allocation will enable the U.S. Forest Service to purchase approximately 800 acres along the Skagit, Sauk, Suiattle and Cascade rivers, including some of the best remaining chinook spawning habitat in the region. The legislation is part of the Interior Appropriations bill passed by both the House and Senate Wednesday; it now goes to President Bush for his signature.

The allocation--from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)--marks the largest such appropriation ever targeted for the Skagit, where the Conservancy and several partners have been working for 25 years to protect key salmon and bald eagle habitat. Last year, the Forest Service received $1 million in LWCF money to protect the Skagit.

The funds will enable the Forest Service, with the help of the Conservancy, the Skagit Land Trust and other local partners, to purchase several critical parcels from willing sellers. Negotiations in several instances are already underway. Among the potential land transactions is a stretch of the Skagit that contains the river's densest spawning area for the federally listed chinook salmon and another parcel that includes nearly one mile of riverfront adjacent to two miles already owned by the Forest Service.

The Conservancy praised U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen (D-Bellingham) and Norm Dicks (D-Bremerton) and Sens. Patty Murray (D-Washington) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) for their strong support of the upper Skagit.

"The state is fortunate to have leaders in Washington D.C. who have the foresight to help us protect this great river system while we still have a chance," said David Weekes, the Conservancy's state director. "These funds will go a long way in ensuring that the Skagit remains healthy and vibrant for generations to come."

Larsen, who recently took a float trip on the Skagit, said he worked to ensure that the Skagit received LWCF money because of its critical importance to solving the region's salmon crisis.

"Protection of the Skagit and its key tributaries is essential if we're committed to the survival of native Pacific salmon in the Puget Sound," Larsen said. "The Skagit affords us a rare opportunity. It is, without question, the best salmon-producing river in the region."

The Skagit is the second-largest watershed in the state and, by most accounts, the healthiest in the Puget Sound region. It supports the largest wild chum, pink and chinook runs in the Puget Sound and the largest and healthiest bull trout population in the West. It's also the only river in the Lower 48 that supports all five species of wild Pacific salmon.

Scientists studying regional salmon declines consider the Skagit the most important salmon-producing river in the Puget Sound and the best hope for recovery of the federally listed Puget Sound chinook.

The upper Skagit also supports one of the largest congregations of wintering bald eagles in the Lower 48. Some 500 eagles converge on the Skagit each winter, drawn by the abundant salmon.

The Conservancy, which purchased its first holdings in the Skagit in 1976, has played a lead role in the Skagit for the past 25 years. More than 8,400 acres and 15 miles of river between Rockport and Marblemount have been protected by the Conservancy and a wide range of partners.

At the Forest Service's request, the Conservancy is negotiating land transactions with a number of willing sellers and will transfer those holdings to the Forest Service as funding becomes available. The Conservancy makes no net profit on these transactions.

To date, the Forest Service has acquired about 2,600 acres within the designated Skagit corridor using proceeds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. LWCF, created by Congress in 1965, allocates royalties paid by private companies for the privilege of developing offshore oil and gas resources to protect land and water for recreational uses, open space and wildlife habitat.