Restoration Project

Boat ramp and trails close as restoration continues on Wiley Slough in Skagit delta

WDFW released the following press release about the Wiley Slough restoration project, in partnership with the Skagit River System Cooperative, the natural resources management arm of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes:

OLYMPIA – Beginning July 15, the 175-acre Headquarters Unit of the Skagit Wildlife Area will be closed to public access as crews resume work on a major estuary-restoration project at the mouth of the Skagit River.

The closed area includes the public boat ramp and the dike-top trails along the Skagit River and Wiley Slough.

Crews will be removing approximately 6,500 feet of dikes and levees, allowing tides and the river to reclaim the area south of a newly constructed setback dike that was completed earlier this year. The restoration project began in 2008, when crews installed a new, larger tidegate farther upstream on Wiley Slough. (more…)

Continue ReadingBoat ramp and trails close as restoration continues on Wiley Slough in Skagit delta

Tribes monitor fish in nearshore ‘nursery’

LA CONNER— Nearly every day in the spring through early fall, somewhere in the Skagit basin and San Juan Islands, a crew from the Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) is sampling fish populations.

Rain or shine, in smooth waters or blustery wind, the crew pulls beach seines and sets fyke traps to count and measure fish before returning them to the water. Crew members also record water temperature, salinity, depth, velocity, substrate and vegetation. As a result, SRSC, the natural resources arm of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes, has a 15-year (and counting) comprehensive database of the way fish use nearshore habitat.

The nearshore is a nursery to a variety of fish including sculpins, perch, smelt, herring and salmon. Puget Sound chinook salmon, listed as “threatened” by the federal Endangered Species Act, depend on estuaries for extended rearing during outmigration.

Monitoring this habitat is a crucial, yet often underfunded, aspect of the salmon recovery effort, said Eric Beamer, SRSC’s research director. Without it, nobody knows whether a restoration project did what it was supposed to do. (more…)

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Trees floating behind dam contribute to salmon recovery

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ALDER – Over 100 trees that have fallen into the reservoir behind Alder Dam will be put to use constructing engineered logjams to create salmon habitat on Ohop Creek.

“Trees that wash into the lake from the river and get stuck behind the dam need to be removed before they become a nuisance,” said David Troutt, natural resources manager for the Nisqually Tribe, which is spearheading the effort to gather the logs. “We’re just taking them out and putting them to good use.” Juvenile salmon find both food and shelter within logjams. The structures also slow the flow of the creek, easing adult salmon migration.

“We know logjams benefit salmon because we’ve been monitoring other restoration projects. We really see a difference in the section of river with logjams and those without,” Troutt said. “There are a lot more salmon around the logjams.”
(more…)

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SVH: Restoration project best for coho, Skagit

The Skagit Valley Herald commended a recent project on the Upper Skagit Reservation, which brought coho salmon to tribal land for the first time in 50 years:

You’ve got to give the coho salmon high marks for persistence. For 50 years, coho had been trying to fight their way back to spawning grounds on the Upper Skagit Reservation. And for 50 years, man-made obstacles and sediment deposits blocked their way. Still they came.

Now, a restoration project on Red Creek, north of Sedro-Woolley, has made it possible for the coho to spawn again on the reservation.

(more…)

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Swinomish hope for biodiesel from sunflowers

The Skagit Valley Herald has a story about the Skagit River System Cooperative’s study of saltwater intrusion on farms and the potential for growing crops that can be used in biodiesel production:

First, it’s a long-term study of saltwater intrusion on the crops and ways farmers can avoid it without compromising fish habitat.

Second, it’s a test to explore a crop that could figure in the local economy — particularly in the realm of growing biodiesel usage in Skagit County.

(more…)

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