Knowing that Local Recovery Capacity is one of the Strategic Priorities of the Strait ERN I thought I’d pass this information on to you. See the emails below and the attachments.
Here’s a little background on NOSC. NOSC is an active member organization of the Strait ERN, one whose representatives have volunteered to participate on a number of Strait ERN Task Force groups. They are also a long-time implementer of many on-the-ground restoration projects within the Strait Action Area, as a partner in both of the lead entities working to recover salmon along the Strait, including the North Olympic Peninsula Lead Entity for Salmon and the Hood Canal Coordinating Council. Please note that Salmon Recovery is one of the top six "Packaged" Local Near Term Actions for the Strait ERN within the Action Agenda.
FROM Rebecca Benjamin: The North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC)
Partners, Friends, Supporters & Colleagues,
The State Senate recently moved to eliminate from SENATE BUDGET money from the RFEG account and re-directs it toward hatcheries.
The Senate budget plans to take $1.5 million dollars from 14 Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups (RFEG)
Please call your state representatives and members of the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees listed in the document.
Representatives for NOSC region:
Senator James Hargrove: 360-786-7646
Rep. Kevin Van De Wege: 360-786-7916
Rep. Steve Tharinger: 360-786-7904
The simplest message is:
I strongly oppose the Senate’s use of RFEG funds to fund state hatcheries. Eliminating funding to RFEG’s will result in substantial reduction in the statewide capacity to implement salmon and habitat restoration work and in the loss of millions of leveraged state and federal dollars and related jobs.
See attached for more context and more detailed messages.
The time to act is NOW, we only have until March 5th to get this budget item OUT of the Senate Budget!
Many thanks for your support of our work and for your help!