Fish passage is set to improve in the Northwest with an investment from Congress’s bipartisan infrastructure law.

The Biden administration has announced its first round of grants totaling $196 million to fix or remove culverts across the country. Culverts channel water under structures like roadways, but can be barriers to fish who use streams and rivers.

Michael O’Casey, deputy director of the Pacific Northwest region for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said culverts are especially hard for young salmon and other species to pass.

“This is really an incredible opportunity to improve passage and ecological connectivity of rivers and streams here in the Northwest and across the country,” O’Casey contended.

Oregon will receive nearly $20 million for 26 culvert projects in the state. Investments for fish passage in the infrastructure law total $2 billion and will be allocated to tribal, state and local governments over the next five years.

Christy Plumer, chief conservation officer for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said many culverts were designed only for temporary use, and called for an infrastructure improvement paradigm shift.

“When we have things like increasing storm events from a changing climate, we really wanted to see a dedicated source of funding for replacement of these culverts’ infrastructure and allowing more fish passage,” Plumer explained.

Plumer noted the projects will also provide jobs. According to a 2021 report from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the so-called “restoration economy” creates more than 17 jobs for every $1 million invested.

“Often rather than a 10- or 20-year life span for these projects, we’re seeing a 50-year life span,” Plumer stressed. “These are big infrastructure projects. They’re going to bring a lot of local jobs to the local economies.”

get more stories like this via email

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Forest Service to look again at the effectiveness of road closures in Montana’s Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.

Advocates said the closures are not effective and may be harming grizzly bears. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed suit in federal court in 2021, claiming the Forest Service did not consult with Fish and Wildlife about the impacts illegal motorized road use has on grizzly bears. The Alliance contends even though old logging roads have been officially closed, hunters and others routinely drive around slipshod barricades.

Mike Garrity, executive director of the group, said people and motorized vehicles drive grizzly bears, who learn to avoid traffic, out of their optimal habitat.

“And grizzlies end up going to suboptimal habitat higher up in the mountains,” Garrity explained. “Where there’s not as much food and there’s less chance for cubs to survive.”

Garrity noted most grizzly bears are killed within one-third of a mile of a road and argued the Forest Service has claimed for years thousands of miles of logging roads are closed, when in fact they are not.

Garrity added the use restrictions are in place to protect wildlife from motorized vehicles on the roads. The Forest Service is legally required to have accurate determinations of motorized use and road density restrictions to protect grizzly bears as well as other road-sensitive wildlife like elk and wolverines.

“It’s all a house of cards, because the road closures aren’t effective,” Garrity contended. “There’s way less secure grizzly bear habitat than what the Forest Service claims on paper.”

The court order applies only to the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, but Garrity thinks it could set precedent for other areas.

get more stories like this via email

In Western Pennsylvania, communities are continuing to reel from the Norfolk Southern derailment nearly six months ago, but the railroad recently has committed $1-million to aid ongoing recovery efforts. The community relief funds of $660,000 was distributed to the rural communities of Darlington Township and $340,000 went to Lawrence County.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw explained the additional funding brings the railroad’s total financial commitment in Western Pennsylvania to approximately $8.6-million. He added his company is committed to having safer railroads in Pennsylvania and across the country.

“So we’re taking a multi-step approach to improve safety at Norfolk Southern,” he explained. “We understand the important role that Norfolk Southern plays. In Pennsylvania, we have 2600 employees that proudly call Pennsylvania home. And we have 1,500 customers in Pennsylvania, that we take safety very, very seriously.”

The money comes as a key part of the multi-million-dollar commitment Governor Josh Shapiro secured from Norfolk Southern. In the meantime, the Federal Railroad Administration reports there have been 34 rail-related accidents this year throughout Pennsylvania, attributed to a variety of factors. Several recent incidents are getting companies to shape up their safety plans.

Shaw emphasizes a $750,000 endowment will be established to provide long-term support to nonprofits in Beaver and Lawrence counties focused on basic human needs; health and wellness, community and economic development; education; workforce; safety and the environment.

“We understand that rail is the safest, most efficient and most sustainable form of transporting goods across land,” Shaw said. “And we can do better. And we know that at Norfolk Southern, the number of derailments last year was the lowest in two decades, and we can do better. “

Shaw pointed out that he has engaged with elected leaders on both sides of the aisle in Washington D.C. advocating for many of the provisions on the various railway safety bills that are moving through the house and Senate. The Railway Safety Act of 2023 advanced out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in May with bipartisan support.

get more stories like this via email

More than 300 ranchers, tribal members, conservationists, researchers, federal and state agency officials gathered in Cheyenne last week to find ways to safeguard and restore the nation’s grasslands.

Aviva Glaser, senior director of agriculture policy for the National Wildlife Federation, said grasslands are critical for rural economies and wildlife. However, in just the past few decades, millions of acres have been severely degraded or lost altogether.

“Whether it’s conversion to crop land or development, some studies have shown that the loss of grasslands has actually been even faster than the loss of Amazon rainforest,” Glaser reported.

Wyoming has been a leader nationally on protecting wildlife migration corridors, and Glaser argued safeguarding and restoring grasslands is key for wildlife connectivity. Grasslands are home to thousands of species of birds, insects and other wildlife, and some species have become endangered or extinct due to loss of habitat.

Participants in the sixth America’s Grasslands Conference also worked to advance the North American Grasslands Conservation Act, legislation which would offer protections similar to those already in effect for the nation’s wetlands.

Glaser stressed it is important to protect Climate Smart Agriculture funding in the Inflation Reduction Act, which could be at risk in the upcoming Farm Bill.

“$20 billion of that should be going to farmers and ranchers,” Glaser contended. “Making sure that funding gets protected and actually goes on the ground to those farmers and ranchers to help them implement those practices.”

The root systems of grasslands absorb greenhouse gases, creating vast carbon sinks to keep climate pollution out of the atmosphere.

Glaser added one of the biggest challenges for conserving and restoring grasslands is helping the American public understand the value of a frequently overlooked resource.

“Most people think of grasslands as flyover country,” Glaser noted. “They don’t understand the value for wildlife; the value for rural communities and for ranchers; for climate, grasslands hold so much carbon in the soil.”

get more stories like this via email