Funding for Salmon Habitat

High Priority Capital Projects

The WRIA 9 6-year Habitat Project Capital Investment Plan (HPCIP) (update coming soon!) outlines anticipated capital funding investments for 2022-2027. There is no RFP for high priority capital projects in WRIA 9. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for High Priority Capital Grants (restoration, acquisition, or enhancement project(s) within the Salmon Habitat Plan), please get in touch with Suzanna Smith at 206-477-4641 or susmith@kingcounty.gov.

These programs are supported by Cooperative Watershed Management (CWM) grant funding through the King County Flood Control District. Please see each Request for Proposal (RFP) linked above for more detailed information on each grant program.

For those interested in capital project funding in the 2026 grant round, please schedule a consultation.

Updating and Adding Salmon Projects
Biennially, on even funding years, the WRIA offers the opportunity to add new capital projects to the Salmon Habitat Plan (Plan) for two categories:

• Category 1- A New Project for adoption into the Salmon Habitat Plan
• Category 2- An existing project in the Plan with substantial scope changes

If you are requesting capital funding for a project that falls under one of these two categories, you must submit a Proposed Project Form (PPF), by December 19, 2025, alongside your Notice of Intent to be eligible for funding. All projects within the Plan are eligible for funding, including projects that fit within a program. The following project types are evaluated as part of the funding package development process and do not require a PPF:

• Projects that fit within a program (e.g., fish passage/culvert removal)
• Revegetation as a primary project (revegetation within a capital project would require a PPF)
• Stewardship and Engagement
• Monitoring and Research

Submit completed forms here. For any questions, please contact Suzanna.

Updating the HPCIP (Habitat Project Capital Investment Plan)
We are updating the WRIA 6-year HPCIP. This exercise helps support regional conversations and statutory requirements and helps the WRIA position funding to best support all partners. To help construct this updated list of projects within the plan that you are primary sponsor of, download the Planning Level Cost Range and Milestone Schedule. We request that you fill out one form for each project (already represented in the Plan or part of a program (e.g., fish passage)) that potentially needs funding support from 2026-2031+. These forms are due Wednesday January 14th via the Smartsheet portal.

Pre-SEED (Pre-Green Support for Engagement, Enhancement, and Development)

WRIA 9 is launching the Pre-SEED (Pre-Green Support for Engagement, Enhancement, and Development) awards to help partners build capacity and prepare strong proposals for the upcoming ReGreen the Green Riparian Revegetation Grant Program. These small, flexible awards, up to $5,000 per organization, are designed to reduce barriers to participation, support early project development, and encourage larger, more connected riparian restoration efforts along the Green/Duwamish River and its tributaries. Pre-SEED funding can be used for activities such as outreach, coordination, and concept development, with the goal of expanding engagement and strengthening future revegetation proposals. Applications for the first round are due January 9, 2026, with rolling review through June 2026 as funding allows.

Learn more about Pre-SEEd awards.

ReGreen the Green Grants

This program supports projects that enhance riparian shade to improve conditions for salmon and meet water quality standards that support aquatic life. There is a need to restore trees and native vegetation on all land use types, urban and rural, along the entire length of the Green River and its tributaries. Riparian revegetation projects improve water quality, salmon habitat, and contribute to the urban tree canopy. WRIA 9’s 2016 Re-Green the Green: Riparian Revegetation Strategy for the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed provides important background, scientific basis, and priorities for revegetation projects, including the banks of the rivers and streams mapped as high shade priority based on their solar sun angle or aspect.

The 2026 RFP is available here.

Monitoring and Research Grants

The WRIA 9 Monitoring and Research grant program supports enhanced effectiveness monitoring and ongoing research projects within WRIA 9.

• Enhanced Effectiveness Monitoring: Enhanced monitoring is focused on understanding how Chinook are using restoration projects. Unlike routine project monitoring, which asks whether a certain type of habitat was created and sustained, enhanced monitoring is meant to determine how fish use the habitat, and which restoration and enhancement/improvement techniques work best.
• Ongoing Research and Data Gaps: In 2004 the WRIA 9 Technical Committee created the WRIA 9 Chinook Salmon Research Framework to "provide guidance about which research efforts should be implemented in the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed to inform recovery planning". Existing information was used to create a conceptual model of how Chinook salmon use the watershed to help organize and prioritize data and knowledge gaps for future research. You can find more detailed information in the RFP below.

The 2026 RFP is available here.

Stewardship, Engagement, and Learning (SEaL) Grants

This opportunity focuses on existing or new programs that support watershed conservation and restoration efforts in the Green Duwamish and Central Puget Sound watersheds with meaningful, focused outreach, learning opportunities, and/or environmental stewardship that aims to instill a sense of place, encourage appreciation of natural resources, and promote environmental literacy with an emphasis on salmon recovery. Programs should clearly identify methods and tools to be employed, describe specific metrics used to gauge success, outline evaluative and assessment approaches, and prioritize focus areas of shoreline stewardship, riparian revegetation, water quality, and/or stormwater management.

SEaL awards are awarded in 3-year block grants. The next opportunity to apply will be in 2027 and a Request for Proposal will be released in fall 2026.