By John Henderer, The Chronicle, The Chronicle
Lewis County and the Lower Columbia Steelhead and Salmon Management Board have received part of $3.9 million set aside by the Legislature to develop statewide water planning for people and fish
In the Chehalis River Basin, extending from Pe Ell to Aberdeen, the state Department of Ecology awarded $454,000 of a $475,000 request for organizational work and an assessment of water needs
The Lower Columbia fish board will receive $147,700 in administrative and organizational money because it has jurisdiction over so-called water resource inventory areas for the Cowlitz, Grays, Lewis, Salmon and Washougal rivers, said Mary Getchell, DOE public information manager
The money was funded through HB 2514, a watershed planning law that took effect last week. It establishes a framework for state, local and tribal governments to collaborate on plans to address water needs, reduce water pollution and protect fish habitat
''I'm very pleased with the response and enthusiasm local communities are showing for watershed management,'' said Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons in a prepared statement. ''It's the type of spirit ? needed to meet the demands of the water and salmon crisis our state is facing.''
The administrative money will reimburse governments that contributed startup money for the five-county Lower Columbia fish board, which includes Lewis, Cowlitz, Clark, Wahkiakum and Skamania counties
Lewis County serves as the lead agency for the Chehalis River Basin study, and its efforts preparing for effects of the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act were noticed during the selection, Getchell said
''It certainly shows they're serious because they've done a lot of work to even get to the application phase,'' she said
Ecology received 30 applications for $8.3 million in grants
Eight applicants got nothing, including areas represented by the Lower Columbia fish board on the Wind and White Salmon rivers in Skamania County
The Chehalis River Basin assessment will study who is using water in the basin, how much of it and what it's being used for, influencing decisions about water rights and water quality, Getchell said
''That's why the water assessment is so important,'' she said, noting a backlog at Ecology of 6,000 water rights permit applications statewide
Water rights applications may get extra help in Lewis and Benton counties, which have applied to establish pilot water conservancy boards to cut through bureaucratic hurdles
Clark County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris, a member of the Lower Columbia fish board, said consultant Chuck Williams wrote the successful Ecology grant applications after an executive steering committee of the board cut a grant-writing consultant in early May. The group had expressed concerns about consultants' fees
Lewis County Commissioner Glenn Aldrich predicted the fish board likely hurt itself by parting ways with consultant Wally Miller, who was being paid $6,000 a month
In addition, Aldrich said private foundations have money available that could have been tapped by a grant writer
Williams had been receiving $3,000 a month for consulting work, and the fish board reduced it to $2,500 in May
After the board parted ways with Miller as its grant writer, Morris said it wasn't clear who would write the grants. Williams, a registered lobbyist, had told the board he doesn't write grants, but he did
''Chuck just woke up one morning worried about it and wrote them, so it was good that he did,'' Morris said. ''He's gotten us every penny of administrative money that we've gotten so far.''
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