HUMPTULIPS, WA.–The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior, has awarded three contracts totaling $412,362 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to Northern Management Services, Saybr Contractors and Sitts & Hill Engineers, Inc. The three companies will use the funding to replace a roof and repair a slide gate and settling basin. This work is expected to employ approximately 22 people.
Northern Management Services will repair a slide gate at the Hatchery Creek intake and repair the Cook Creek settling basin in order to bring Quinault in compliance with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) standards in the Clean Water Act. Saybr Contractors and Sitts & Hill Engineers will replace the feed building roof, replace the cooling and heating systems for proper feed storage, and replace various feed building elements to reduce energy use.
“These projects allow us to improve our efficiency and production, ensuring the fish we produce receive the best care and highest quality feed possible,” Quinault NFH manager Bill Edwards said. “In addition to maintaining a delicate ecosystem, the primary beneficiaries of our fish production are the Quinault Indian Nation and U.S. and Canadian commercial and sport fishermen.”
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in 2009 gave $3 billion to the Department of the Interior. Of that amount, $280 million in funding goes to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“These projects help us keep our crews going, and without the stimulus dollars, we would be broke,” Northern Management Project Manager Bert Wallace said. “There are interesting challenges in performing the settling basin repair, because we are working with high flows of water at a sensitive fish hatchery. You can’t just shut down water to a hatchery, and the scheduling around their needs is a critical component.”
The ARRA funds are part of a stimulus package that is an important component of President Obama’s plan to jumpstart the economy and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so the country can thrive in the 21st century. Under the ARRA, Interior is making an investment in conserving Americas timeless treasures – our stunning natural landscapes, our monuments to liberty, the icons of our culture and our heritage – while helping American families and their communities prosper again. Interior is also focusing on renewable energy projects, the needs of American Indians, employing youth and promoting community service.
“With its investments of Recovery Act funds, the Department of the Interior and its bureaus are putting people to work today to make improvements that will benefit the environment and the region for many years to come,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.
Secretary Salazar has pledged unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability in the implementation of the Department’s economic recovery projects. The public will be able to follow the progress of each project on /www.recovery.gov and on Chris Henderson, and an Interior Economic Recovery Task Force to work closely with Interior’s Inspector General to ensure the recovery program is meeting the high standards for accountability, responsibility, and transparency set by President Obama.
- FWS -
Broadcast Reader
THE QUINAULT (kwin-ALT) NATIONAL FISH HATCHERY WILL BENEFIT FROM THREE CONTRACTS TO REPLACE A HATCHERY ROOF, REPAIR A SETTLING POND, AND REPLACE A SLIDE GATE AT THE WESTERN WASHINGTON FACILITY. THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR’S U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE ANNOUNCED IT WILL PROVIDE MORE THAN FOUR-HUNDRED THOUSAND IN STIMULUS FUNDING UNDER THE AMERICAN REINVESTMENT AND RECOVERY ACT FOR THE PROJECTS, ALL OF WHICH ARE DESIGNED TO HELP THE HATCHERY MEET ITS ANNUAL SALMON AND STEELHEAD PRODUCTION GOALS.
Fact Sheet
Name: Quinault National Fish Hatchery
Manager: Bill Edwards, bill_edwards@fws.gov"> // (360) 288-2508
Location: Quinault NFH is located on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula, approximately 30 miles northwest of Aberdeen, Washington, in Grays Harbor County. The hatchery is on the Quinault Indian Reservation, on the north bank of Cook Creek, about five miles from its confluence with the Quinault River.
Facilities: There are 79.9 acres of USFWS-owned land within the Quinault Indian Reservation boundary. Cook Creek (4.5 miles long) is a tributary of the Quinault River, 16 miles upstream from the ocean. Buildings include an administrative office, visitor center, hatchery building, spawning building, vehicle storage building, maintenance shop and fish feed building, electric fish barrier, and egg isolation building.
Species: The hatchery currently produces fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho salmon (O. kisutch) , chum salmon (O. keta), Hoh River steelhead and winter-run steelhead (O. mykiss) for release into the Quinault River by way of Cook Creek. Annually, the hatchery releases 660,000 coho salmon, 1.5 million chum salmon, 400,000 fall Chinook, and 190,000 steelhead trout. Off-station releases include coho and steelhead fry into the Quinault and Raft rivers. The Quinault NFH also transfers 100,000 steelhead trout to the Hoh River. At peak production, the hatchery has over 3 million fish on station.
Tribal obligations: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works toward the restoration of depleted anadromous fish stocks. In cooperation with the Quinault Indian Nation, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, and the Hoh Nation, the following objectives have been established:
* Restoration of salmon stocks on the north Pacific Coast to levels that will meet escapement objectives after harvest.
* Maintaining steelhead stocks in all north coast watersheds to levels that will support sport and commercial harvests commensurate with historical harvest levels.
* Maintaining all salmon in the north coast that are managed for natural production at current levels while meeting escapement goals.
