A couple of Enumclaw-area organizations received thousands of dollars for various community projects.

The King County Department of Local Services announced April 2 that $90,000 Alan M. Painter grants were awarded to 46 nonprofits, senior centers, art installations, and other groups for projects that promote engagement with unincorporated residents, enhance their community, and educate locals about issues that affect them, among other goals.

Painter is the founding director of the King County Community Service Area program.

Local organizations, or organizations looking to do work in on or near the Plateau, were granted $9,000.

Most locally, the Enumclaw Plateau Community Association, a nonprofit devoted to conservation, received $2,500 to continue removing invasive plants and planting native species along Boise Creek.

Reintroducing native species is especially beneficial for the migrating fish in the creek, EPCA member Bernie McKinney said in a recent interview, because they provide shade (warm water can be fatal to salmon) and attracts food the salmon eat.

“Boise Creek was, at one time, the number one spring Chinook salmon run in the state of Washington,” he continued. “But it is no longer; it’s full of other species of fish, so the Chinook have very little habitat left.”

The biggest award went to the Greater Maple Valley Unincorporated Area Council, which works to bring money into unincorporated areas around the city of Maple Valley and lobby for residents when it comes to county and state policy.

The GMUAC received $3,000 to organize a community train show in Ravensdale.

To the west, The Neely Mansion Association, which preserves the historical Neely Mansion and holds various cultural and educational events, received $2,000 to host celebrations of Filipino and Japanese cultures.

And to the north, the Soos Creek Area Response, another conservation organization focused on the Soos Creek, received $825 for community outreach.