The Cascade Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group has been awarded $43,000 from the state Department of Ecology to improve water quality and promote community engagement at three publicly accessible river sites in the Methow Valley.
The funding will support bank protection and riparian planting at Mack Lloyd Park in Winthrop. It will also be used for plant maintenance and volunteer events at Homestream Park in Winthrop and at another site in Mazama.
Cascade Fisheries works to restore native fish habitat through enhancement, education and community engagement.
The grants are part of 15 water-quality improvement projects Ecology is funding across the state, a total of $640,000. Ecology evaluated 22 different proposals worth more than $962,000.
The grants are funded through Ecology’s Terry Husseman Account, , designed to help local governments, conservation districts and fisheries enhancement groups pay for environmental projects. The account is funded by payments from penalties issued by Ecology for violations of the state Water Pollution Control Act. Husseman was a deputy director at Ecology.
