Deep Creek Culverts Grant Application Gets $50k Bump

A project to design and install fish culverts for the passage of salmon in the Deep Creek Watershed beneath Oilwell Road has received an additional $50,000 in funding. The ordinance was passed by the KPB Assembly during their meeting on Tuesday night and the funds are an appropriation of borough funds as a contribution to a $1.3 million grant the borough is applying for through the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

“We are applying for a grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service National Fish Passage Program,” said Borough Finance Director Brandi Harbaugh at the borough finance committee meeting. “The grant is approximately $1.3 million. We are asking to add 50,000 of local match money to strengthen the application, and so this ordinance simply appropriates that $50,000 to allow things to get going, and then if and when the grant is awarded, we will come back and appropriate that separately.”

According to a memo provided with the ordinance literature, “The Project will provide funding for conceptual designs of two culverts and support construction of one of the culverts. Any remaining funds would be applied to [the] construction of the second culvert. The Project provides $1,365,000 of federal funds with a cash contribution of $50,000.”

The Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act of 2021 provided $200 million to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish Passage Program ( “NFPP”) to support mitigation projects that improve fish passage.

The project is intended to provide design for properly sized and engineered structures that will allow the passage of salmon species in two locations on Oilwell Road.