Federal grants will replace water tunnels beneath roads that are harmful to fish

FILE – Melissa Erkel, a fish passage biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, looks at a culvert along the north fork of Newaukum Creek near Enumclaw, Wash., June 22, 2015. The Biden administration, on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023, was announcing nearly $200 million in federal infrastructure grants to upgrade tunnels that carry streams beneath roads but can be deadly to anadromous fish that get stuck trying to pass through. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced nearly $200 million in federal infrastructure grants to upgrade tunnels that carry streams beneath roads but can be deadly to fish that get stuck trying to pass through.

Many of the narrow passages known as culverts, often made from metal pipes or concrete, were built in the 1950s and contribute to population declines of salmon and other fish that live in the ocean but return to freshwater streams to spawn.

By extension, fisheries — including tribal-run operations in the Pacific Northwest — have experienced losses they blame in part on such barriers as culverts and dams.

“We inherited a lot of structures that were built in a way that just did not properly contemplate the effect they were having on fish,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview with The Associated Press. “You don’t have to be a fish enthusiast or ecologist to care about this. It’s very important for the livelihoods, economies and way of life in many parts of the country.”

Some of the 169 projects that make up the first batch in a $1 billion initiative being rolled out over five years under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would upgrade the culverts or replace them with bridges to allow water — and fish — to flow more freely.

The projects are divided among 59 tribal, state and local governments — with at least one found in […]

Full article: apnews.com