Tulalip Tribesto restore salmon habitat

Tulalip Tribes partner with others to restore salmon habitat

STANWOOD — The coastal stream at 18510 Soundview Drive NW in Stanwood began as a “degraded straight ditch,” according to Brett Shattuck, forest and fish biologist for the Tulalip Tribes, but the gulch came to reclaim its old name of Greenwood Creek in the wake of its restoration as a salmon habitat this fall.

“We spent years studying all the coastal streams in the Whidbey basin, looking for which ones were used the most by juvenile chinook salmon, and we found the highest number of them here,” said Shattuck, who reported that Tulalip Tribal Natural Resources staff counted 280 chinook, out of a total of 600 juvenile salmon that also included coho and other species, during a single day’s electrofishing survey. “Even though this property is owned by Snohomish County and in a public right-of-way, it was an ideal restoration site, so we spent the past year pursuing that. Our neighbors were very supportive, and the county was willing to work with us and the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation to find a strategy that was beneficial to the county, the local residents, the Tribes and the fish.”

Shattuck explained that crews pulled back the banks of the stream to widen it, cleared out invasive .... http://www.marysvilleglobe.com/news/238124661.html

so they took the stream with the most smolt production in the basin and "improved" that one??? so now it looks like some garden center ad for water features. gee I'm glad the neighbors like the work... will the fish?

I grew up near Ames Lake (east of Redmond) and when I was very young, the county re-aligned the intersection of Ames Lake Road & Redmond-Fall City Road. Part of their project included re-engineering the creek that runs parallel to Ames Lk Rd. They took the "ditch" and imbedded knotched logs that acted as gradient control and created resting pools. They regraded the banks and replanted to area where the creek leaves a steep ravine and empties into Patterson Creek Valley.

At the time, it looked much like said creek looks in the article. You can walk down to the creek on any day in late fall to see spawning Coho and other salmon. While I am sure there were salmon that swam up prior to the project, it is no doubt a very important spawning tributary that is far up Patterson (trib of the Snoqualmie) that has been strengthened by rehabilitation efforts. Kudos Tulalips on your efforts up north.

if it gets results I'm all for it. it just looks sterile. lots of the creeks down near the bay look and smell horrible and they work great for fish. lots of food, lots of cover. that's the habitat down there. its much more bog like then mountain meadow babbling brook. one size don't fit all. if it works cool....