FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Erin Mooney, (703) 284-9408, TU National Press Secretary
Mike Willet, (406) 728-3607, West Slope TU
Doug Nation, (406) 375-2189
 
TU West Slope Chapter Receives Almost $10,000 to Restore Deer Creek

MISSOULA—Trout Unlimited, (TU) the nation's oldest and largest coldwater fisheries conservation organization, today awarded a $9,400 Embrace-A-Stream grant to its West Slope Chapter in Montana. The chapter is partnering with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on the project.

The Embrace-A-Stream grant will provide funding to remove a culvert where Deer Creek enters the Clark Fork River near the site of the old Milltown Dam. By removing the culvert, native westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout will once again gain access to historical spawning habitat within Deer Creek.

Embrace-A-Stream is the flagship grant program for funding TU grassroots conservation efforts.  Funding is provided primarily through the support of TU members, with additional support in 2010 provided by Costa del Mar and the FishAmerica Foundation. An Embrace-A-Stream Committee comprised of TU volunteer representatives and scientific advisors evaluates all proposed projects and makes the awards.

In 2010, the Embrace-A-Stream program will provide over $125,000 to 24 projects in 15 states. Projects will address stream habitat restoration, improving fish passage and protecting water quality. Many of the projects will benefit eastern brook trout from Maine to Georgia, and others will help protect cutthroat trout in the West as well as coho and chinook salmon in the Pacific Northwest. Since the program's inception in 1976, Embrace-A-Stream has funded more than 950 individual projects totaling approximately $4 million. As a result of this funding from Embrace-A-Stream, the projects have leveraged more than $12.7 million in additional funding.