ODFW has submitted many IIJA grant applications for the conservation and management of natural resources across Oregon, as well as provided technical, financial, and grant writing support for many other partner-led applications. As of December 2024, ODFW has participated in 119 grant applications, to 14 IIJA and IRA grant programs, requesting approximately $382 million in federal funds thus far. We/our partnerships have been awarded roughly $184 million, more than half of which will be passthrough to partners statewide, with many additional grant announcements pending in 2025.
An interactive map was developed to allow all Oregonians to visualize the natural resources projects that are happening in their area. The user can select categories from the tab by selecting a category within each filter (Project Category, Federal agency, State Agency, or Project Scope). To view a brief description and information on the project, the user can select an icon from the map.
Current projects as of 12/28/2024:
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| Keno Dam on the Klamath River in Oregon located at river mile 236.4 (photo credit: Mark Hereford/ODFW) |
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| The new bridge over Sampson Creek after project completion, photo by Jacob Jesionek. |
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| Gallagher Slough Tide Gates on Oregon Hwy 101 at the Lower Nehalem River (photo credit: Kregg Smith/ODFW) |
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| Upstream view of the Ogee Dam on North Fork Klaskanine River to be removed (photo credit: Kregg Smith/OFDW). |
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| Fruitdale Creek culvert. |
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| Artist interpretation of the overcrossing at I-5 connecting the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. |
The Wallowa system has seen amazing collaborations with the Nez Perce Tribe (NPT), Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), ODFW, Oregon Water Resources Department, Wallowa Lake Irrigation District, State of Oregon, federal agency partners, and more, which is a huge success. Partners have been successful in securing ~$30 million out of the $38 million needed to restore fish passage from the Wallowa Dam to the Consolidated Ditch. The available funds originate from a diversity of sources, including State Lottery Funds ($14M), Federal Funds ($2M), ODFW Drought Funds ($1.25M), a successful IIJA America the Beautiful Challenge grant by the NPT/CTUIR ($5M), and Business Oregon Grant/Loans ($7M). Efforts are currently underway to apply for additional IIJA grants to cover the remaining $8 million needed to reach the goal. Other successful IIJA grant applications for the Wallowa River include two National Fish Passage Program grants to the Nez Perce Tribe for fish passage improvement projects at the Wilson ($575,000) and Dorrance ($175,000) diversions.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Keno Dam Fish Passage Project
Reclamation Funding: $4,100,000
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will construct fish passage improvements to the Keno Dam, located on the Klamath River. The Keno Dam will be a major impediment to fish passage on the Klamath River following removal of the lower 4 dams. The fish ladder at Keno Dam was constructed in 1968, and no upgrades have been made since its construction. In addition, the fish ladder was not designed to meet multiple species passage, including ESA listed salmon and suckers. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Reclamation have convened a multi-agency and stakeholder working group to assess biological investigations and evaluations and have developed a prioritized list of improvements and upgrades to provide fish passage for several species.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Keno Impoundment Fish Screens
Reclamation Funding: $6,750,000
The Oregon Department of Wildlife will study, design, manufacture, and install fish screens at unscreened diversion points along the Klamath River for the protection of ESA-listed species. The removal of the lower four dams will enable anadromous fish to occupy historic Klamath River habitats. However this area has numerous unscreened Klamath Project diversions. The Department and Reclamation have convened a multi-agency and stakeholder working group to assess biological investigations and evaluations to prioritize and select the best screening alternatives for each site. The screens will prevent juvenile and adult fish from entering the canals and will be designed to protect ESA-listed salmon and suckers. The Department will finalize designs and complete environmental compliance for 5 fish screens currently in the planning phase, construct/install the fish screens and monitor their effectiveness, finalize negotiations and designs for the next set of high priority fish screens, and evaluate fish protection devices for the larger diversions with complex screening issues.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is exploring fish passage options at Keno Dam with a recently secured $1.9 million NOAA award. Over the next 3 years, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and its partners will identify fish passage options in coordination with partners, tribes, and community members, study the feasibility of the most viable fish passage options, develop cost estimates, and create a 30-percent engineering design for the chosen option.
During the summer of 2023, the Salmon SuperHwy completed three projects (Samson Creek, Green Creek at Trask River Road, and Hughey Creek at Fairview Rd.) funded by the USFWS National Fish Passage Program that improved fish passage for Oregon Coast’s Coho, Chinook, and Chum Salmon, Winter and Summer Steelhead, Coastal Cutthroat Trout, and Pacific and/or Brook Lamprey. The Salmon SuperHwy is an ongoing collaborative partnership of over a dozen entities in the Tillamook, Nestucca and Sand Lake watersheds on Oregon’s North Coast. In 2024, the Oregon Projects secured $4 million from NOAA for funding that will remove barriers to fish migration at seven sites, restoring access to 21.7 miles of habitat for salmon, steelhead and other native fish. The funding will also provide transportation infrastructure and flood resilience benefits to local communities and support stakeholder engagement and additional future project development.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Reconnecting Fish Passage to Recover Oregon Coast Coho in the Nehalem and Tillamook Watersheds (Task B: Construction)
Reclamation Funding: $3,000,000
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and local partners will complete a suite of high-priority fish passage and habitat restoration actions in the Tillamook, Lower Nehalem Watershed, South Umpqua, and in coastal Northwest Oregon. The project will include the removal of 4 dams and culverts and will replace 5 tide gates, which are fish passage barriers that also restrict floodplain connectivity with two muted tidal regulator gates, which will result in 22 miles of coho spawning and rearing habitat reconnected and 381 acres of floodplain wetlands reconnected.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Restoring Habitat Connectivity for Lower Columbia River Salmonids in the North Fork Klaskanine River Watershed (Task B: Construction)
Reclamation Funding: $3,175,089
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will restore fish passage in the North Fork Klaskanine River by providing fish passage at the Ogee Dam. The project builds upon progress made in previous phases of a watershed-scale effort, that included the removal of one dam and installation of a fish passage structure at a second dam upstream of the proposed project location at Ogee Dam. Once installed, the fish passage feature at Ogee Dam will provide access to 12 full miles of critical spawning and rearing habitat in the upper reaches of the North Fork Klaskanine River for the benefit of ESA-listed coho salmon. The project will also benefit several non-listed, but culturally significant species, including coastal cutthroat trout, Pacific lamprey, and Western brook lamprey.
Partners have submitted multiple IIJA grant proposals, including water efficiency projects at irrigation diversions. ODFW is also working with the Rogue Valley Council of Governments and other partners to restore fish passage on Bear Creek at an abandoned Medford sewer line and nearby infrastructure. This will facilitate passage for fall chinook salmon and help juvenile coho and steelhead access cooler water in summer upstream of Medford. Wild Salmon Center has secured funds from NOAA to restore fish passage and habitat restoration in the Elk River and Roque SONCC coho salmon strategic action plan watersheds.
The Freshwater Trust, Middle Bear Creek Habitat and Infrastructure Enhancement Project
Reclamation Funding: $622,001
The Freshwater Trust will complete the design and engineering of a project to restore aquatic habitat along a 2.5 mile high-priority reach of the Bear Creek, along the Bear Creek Greenway trail, near the city of Phoenix, Oregon. The Bear Creek watershed supports ESA-listed salmonids, but the project location has been degraded through a combination of urbanization, a severe wildfire in 2020, increased water scarcity, and pressure from invasive weeds. This project will study and design a holistic combination of ecological enhancement treatments to reconnect floodplain, improve fish passage, improve cold water thermal refugia, while protecting and maintaining critical water delivery infrastructure. Together, these actions will contribute to restoring high-functioning, resilient habitat for native salmon and steelhead populations, while also improving water delivery infrastructure for 1,600 agricultural uses. The project will support community post-fire recovery in accordance with local plans, and benefit area residents by enhancing recreational opportunity and improving water quality.
Fruitdale Creek is a tributary of the Rogue River in Josephine County, OR (42.421648, -123.307469270). Under Highway 99 is a fish passage barrier for coho, cutthroat, winter and summer steelhead. The culvert is a 9’ corrugated metal pipe with some previously added fish weirs. The paved inlet is severely worn with exposed wire and scour in undermining the outlet wing walls. ODFW was awarded a FHWA Aquatic Organism Passage grant ($9.25 million) and since transferred to ODOT to provide full, volitional fish passage at this site and upstream at the Fruitdale Ave. box culvert that will open 1.3 miles of native migratory fish habitat.
ODFW has been successful in acquiring a preliminary grant award of $6,500,000 from the Bureau of Land Management’s Ecosystem Restoration IIJA grant through the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA). Projects that could be funded by the grant include sage steppe restoration for mule deer and sage grouse, invasive weed treatments to enhance elk habitats, big horn sheep population studies, and meadow restoration in the High Cascades. The U.S. Forest Service secured $565,000 of IIJA funds for a Stage Zero riverscape restoration project through a GNA agreement between ODFW and the Umpqua National Forest.
ODFW also partnered with the Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture and several partners in the Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network on a successful grant application to NFWF’s America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC) for approximately $2.8 million. Funding will restore 800 acres of oak habitat in the Upper Rogue, including oak thinning, fuels reduction, invasives removal, and understory restoration.
ODFW has been collaborating closely with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to identify and prioritize locations throughout the state in need of mitigation, such as wildlife crossing structures, to benefit wildlife passage. The agencies have identified more than a dozen high-priority sites based on roadkill data collected by ODOT and overlap with Priority Wildlife Connectivity Areas identified by ODFW as part of the Oregon Connectivity Assessment and Mapping Project. This list of joint agency priorities will help inform future grant proposals, including applications for funding through the competitive Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program, which launched in April of 2023.
Oregon’s I-5 wildlife overcrossing project to reconnect the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument secured $37 million from the FHWA Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program and ODOT matching funds from an allocation by the Oregon legislature (HB5202). The goal of this project is to construct a large wildlife overcrossing structure at approximately milepost 1.7 on U.S. Interstate 5 in southern Oregon, within the Mariposa Preserve, part of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (Monument). At this site, I-5 creates two substantial issues: fragmentation of critical wildlife habitat within the Monument, bisected by the interstate, and significant safety risks to motorists due to collisions with large-bodied animals attempting to cross the highway. Given the significant threat to driver safety from wildlife-vehicle collisions, the number and diversity of species affected, the ecological importance of the Monument, and the need for east-west interconnectedness to allow wildlife to adapt to changing climate conditions, a wildlife overcrossing within the Monument is critical. Funding from the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program would contribute to construction of a wildlife overcrossing, directional fencing to funnel wildlife to the structure and prevent wildlife-vehicle collisions, and associated habitat improvements.
Thus far, Oregon has received $4.1 billion in IIJA and IRA funds, with the funding primarily being allocated towards transportation, but with significant funding being administered for climate resiliency, clean energy, water and natural resource conservation, agricultural programs, broadband, and more. The Biden Administration publishes a record of IIJA and IRA funding allotments by state, which ODFW summarizes by federal agency and bureau to help the agency and partners to track what funding is coming into Oregon and strategize moving forward.
Funding Opportunities |
