NEAH BAY — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded four contracts to three companies totaling $336,921.44 to make upgrades at the Makah National Fish Hatchery.
The projects, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will employ about 20 people, the federal agency said in a statement on Thursday.
Burton Construction, Cherokee General and Sabyr Contractors were awarded the contracts.
Burton Construction will repair the main electrical service panel at the hatchery to meet energy efficiency and safety requirements.
Sabyr Contractors will repair and replace outdated electrical pumps.
Cherokee General will repair the hatchery roof and rehabilitate the deteriorating trough piping system.
The current state of these systems and facilities at the hatchery jeopardize its ability to meet regional salmon and steelhead production goals, said Caroline Peterschmidt, Makah hatchery manager.
“The hatchery electrical repair project will allow replacement of the aging main electric service panel and standby generator switches,” Peterschmidt said.
The role of the hatchery is to help restore depleted runs of salmon and steelhead to the Sooes and Wa’atch rivers.
The hatchery “is very power-dependent, and maintaining and upgrading equipment is vital to our production goals for healthy fall chinook, coho and steelhead smolts,” Peterschmidt said.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 gave $3 billion to the Department of the Interior.
Of that amount, $280 million in funding goes to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for projects nationwide.
To follow the progress of projects funded with the act, see www.recovery.gov and www.interior.gov/recovery.
Questions or comments about the Neah Bay project can be e-mailed to recovery act@fws.gov.