 & Conserve Salmon Habitat Announced April 1, 2004
"This initiative supports the Administration's commitment to restoring the health of the critical salmon habitat in Alaska and other key areas of the country. Maintaining healthy watersheds will ensure long-term salmon survival. This is crucial for the conservation of the Alaskan salmon industry and I am glad that the administration recognizes the importance of this industry," said Congressman Young. The new initiative, administered by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will help landowners with projects that restore habitat for Pacific and Atlantic salmon. Projects may include providing shade along streams, restoring gravel spawning beds, removing barriers to fish passages and reducing agricultural runoff. WHIP is a voluntary conservation
program, reauthorized in the 2002 Farm Bill, that provides technical
and financial assistance to landowners and others to develop
upland, wetland, riparian and aquatic habitat areas on their
property. The program provides full flexibility to landowners,
offering one-year agreements, 5- to 10-year agreements and 15-year
or longer agreements. Since WHIP began in 1998, nearly 14,500
participants have enrolled more than 2.3 million acres into the
program.
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