Reclamation seeks Klamath River watershed restoration projects

Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region, Sacramento, Calif. 
May 18, 2007

The Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Basin Area Office (KBAO), working in partnership with other Federal and Oregon State agencies, announces the availability of $650,000 in Reclamation funds for a joint Klamath River Watershed Restoration Program in Fiscal Year (FY) 2007. Reclamation is specifically requesting proposals to: (1) restore the Klamath River ecosystem; (2) help enhance populations of threatened coho salmon and endangered shortnose and Lost River suckers; and (3) further the fulfillment of the Federal Governments tribal trust responsibilities as they relate to the natural resources from the Klamath River watershed.

Reclamation will consider funding potential projects that enhance and restore habitat conditions, improve water quality conditions, remove fish passage barriers, reduce entrainment through the installation of fish screens, and result in water conservation efficiencies.

This FY 2007 Request for Proposal (RFP) process involves the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Marine Fisheries Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. Several of these agencies have their own independent restoration programs specifically aimed at restoring threatened and endangered fish species and other fish species of concern within the entire Klamath River Basin in Oregon and California.

The RFP is posted at http://www.grants.gov for a 60-day open period from May 1, 2007, to Friday, June 29, 2007 (funding number 07SF200051). For more information about the program, please contact Mr. Chuck Korson, Fish Passage Manager, Reclamation Klamath Basin Area Office, at 541-880-2575 or ckorson@mp.usbr.gov.

Federal and State agencies also envision working cooperatively and participating in a unified, joint RFP restoration funding process for the Klamath River watershed in 2008.