Skagit County

SVH: Upper Skagit Tribe’s Hansen Creek project under way

The Skagit Valley Herald has a story about the Upper Skagit Tribe’s project to restore habitat along Hansen Creek in Sedro-Woolley:

Crews are moving acres of dirt and rocks as part of an effort to restore the historic floodplain of Hansen Creek to help control flooding and increase salmon and steelhead numbers.

When the excavation is complete, a new setback levee will also protect 35 acres and 140 acres of wetlands and stream habitat at the 726-acre Northern State Recreation Area for recreational purposes. (more…)

Continue ReadingSVH: Upper Skagit Tribe’s Hansen Creek project under way

EPA grants $2 million to tribes for Puget Sound projects

NWIFC Chairman Billy Frank Jr. and Executive Director Mike Grayum discuss the Hansen Creek restoration project with Lauren Rich, environmental planner for the Upper Skagit TribeA number of news outlets reported on this week’s announcement of $2 million in EPA grants to tribes in support of the Puget Sound Partnership.

KING 5 News:

More than a century ago, Native American tribes watched settlers dam, dike and straighten the area’s streams and rivers.

Today the federal EPA gave those same tribes millions of dollars to undo some of those changes.

During a ceremony at a 140-acre site near the Upper Skagit Indian Reservation near Sedro-Woolley, the EPA handed over $2 million to 19 tribes to fund several restoration projects. The money will be used at that site to remove dikes and other obstacles from Hansen Creek, a major tributary of the Skagit River.

(more…)

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Coho return to Upper Skagit reservation

The Skagit Valley Herald:

For the first time in 50 years, the coho salmon have returned to the Upper Skagit Reservation.

To get them there, crews had to tear out a series of stacked culverts and remove 300 dump-truck loads of sediment that blocked the cohos’ path upstream.

The tribe and Skagit County also worked together to restore a lower section of Red Creek and one of its tributaries, channeling the water into two streams. This makes it easier for the 6- to 8-pound fish that had been forced to swim across a flooded field to reach the creek to spawn.

(more…)

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Skagit County receives millions

The Skagit Valley Herald (story not available online) reported last week on the SRF Board funding in Skagit County, which included several Skagit River System Cooperative and Upper Skagit Tribe project:

Local habitat efforts get state’s second-largest share of grant

A grant agency saw the value of protecting salmon in Skagit County. Organizations here have received $6.3 million from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board to restore salmon habitat.
Projects in Skagit County are getting the second-largest grant total in the state behind King County’s $7.1 million.

The board awarded more than $60 million in salmon recovery grants statewide.

(more…)

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Skagit streamside buffer plans rejected before

The Skagit Valley Herald (subscription required) offered a brief history on Sunday of the 11-year “saga of streamside buffers.”

Skagit County’s proposed Salmon Heritage Program is merely the latest attempt to resolve a dispute that has pitted farmers against fish advocates and has reached the state Supreme Court. It incorporates many elements from previous plans, including the target of bringing just 80 percent of the eligible land — rather than 100 percent — into the program.

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Skagit County proposes raising taxes to save salmon

Skagit County commissioners proposed raising property taxes to create streamside buffers around the Skagit River and its tributaries.

The Seattle Times:

A proposal announced Thursday and headed to the county’s voters in the summer would cost the average homeowner about $25 a year. The county commissioners say raising public money to buy land from willing sellers would not only preserve land along the river and streams and boost salmon survival, but it might even help endangered orcas.

(more…)

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Skagit Valley Herald: Grant helps Swinomish prepare for oil spills

The Skagit Valley Herald (subscription required) has an article about the Swinomish Tribe’s new oil-spill response trailer. The Quinault, Hoh, Makah, Lummi, Tulalip, Nisqually, Quileute and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes also benefited from this Department of Ecology grant.

Grant helps Swinomish prepare for oil spills
By KATE MOSER Staff Writer

After 20 years of experience responding to oil spills, including Exxon-Valdez, Swinomish Police Sgt. James Lynch knows that there is a lot of work to be done for whoever responds the quickest.

“The bottom line is, whoever gets there with the boom first, God bless ’em,” Lynch said, referring to an oil-containment boom, which is a floating barrier used to corral the oil.

That’s why Lynch applied for a state Department of Ecology grant on behalf of the Swinomish Police Department, making oil-spill response equipment ready for use whenever any agency in Skagit County needs it.

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To Save Threatened Chinook, Swinomish Tribe Prepared To Sue

Tribe files 60-day notice of intent, but still hopes negotiations can ward off a suit

LACONNER (September 11, 2003) — Seeking to protect Skagit chinook salmon, the Swinomish Tribe today notified a Skagit County Diking District of their intent to file a lawsuit under the federal Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. After years of attempting to find mutually acceptable solutions locally, the tribe is turning to the federal courts. “We have tried to work cooperatively with the farming community, the Governor, the county and the state, and in every instance they have turned us away,” said Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.

(more…)

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