Welcome new AmeriCorps Members!

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Please help us welcome our new AmeriCorps members for the 2022-23 service year!

Myrriah Crowley, Restoration Associate

Myrriah grew up in the redwoods of California and moved to the PNW several years ago to explore the wild and wonderfully biodiverse region. She came to Skagit Fisheries after graduating from Western Washington University with a degree in Environmental Science and emphasis in Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecology; and previously, she earned a degree in Horticulture with an emphasis on Organic Ag and Crop Production at Cabrillo College in CA. She enjoys gardening, foraging, hiking, good food and cold water. Among many things, Myrriah is excited to build a relationship with the community that keeps our waters, salmon, people and environment healthy and thriving here in the Salish Sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kenzie Kesling, Education Associate

Kenzie is a Pacific Northwest native as she was born and raised in the greater Tacoma area. She is a recent graduate of Western Washington University with a Bachelors of Science in Biology/Anthropology and a Bachelors of Arts in Spanish. At WWU, Kenzie was a student leader and spent three years working in the dorm as a Resident Advisor. In her spare time, Kenzie likes to read, write, draw, and explore local shops/eateries. She is a history buff and her favorite book series are the Harry Potter books. Kenzie is excited to be a part of the SFEG team and help serve the Skagit community.

Mosquitoes “bug” SFEG and Skagit County crews during Mount Vernon fish rescue at salmon restoration construction site

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This time of year, mosquito nets are not just a bold fashion statement for our hardworking restoration and construction crews working to enhance salmon populations on the South Fork of the Skagit River.  It is an essential piece of safety equipment when just standing near a wetland is akin to signing up for a local blood drive.  Fortunately, mosquitoes and other insect larvae are staple food sources for salmon fry, so we are used to seeing them while enhancing salmon habitat.  Last week SFEG staff “donated” plenty of blood to the South Fork mosquitoes during a fish rescue in a construction work site, leading to a very interesting food chain:

This restoration project is located on the South Fork of the Skagit River at the upper edge of the Skagit River estuary.  The water is not salty or brackish here but daily changes in the tide heavily influence the water depth.  Backwatering off channel habitats in this part of the estuary are extremely valuable rearing habitat for juvenile salmonids.   This site is a wonderful salmonid refuge in the winter, providing shelter for tiny salmon fry during harsh winter flooding conditions.  However, each spring this side channel disconnects from the Skagit before the salmon fry can escape.  By summer, this apparent fish paradise dries up and turns into a fish death trap, an issue that will be fixed during construction in summer 2022.

This project began in 2002 with a levee set-back project and a river side planting, led by Skagit County Public Works and Dike District #3.  County monitoring programs documented high fish presence at this site, including many juvenile Chinook salmon.  This final project phase will establish excellent natural water flow between the Skagit River, the floodplain, and the freshwater channel network and will allow 5.3 acres of wetted area to remain during low river conditions.  The final result will be excellent summer refuge for our young native fish with shade (from the 2002 native tree planting), shelter (newly constructed channel and pond habitat) and plentiful food (mosquitoes and other insect larvae).

For the construction phase of this project to take place, all the fish trapped in the work area in July 2022 had to be relocated.  Skagit County Public Works, the lead of this restoration project, invited SFEG to lead the relocation effort.  The same aspects of this site that make it excellent for salmon make it difficult for us to work in.  The native tree and brush cover is thick, the existing channel is large and full of woody debris, the pools are very deep, and the mosquitoes are horrendous.   In this setting the fish have quite the advantage and they are extremely motivated to stay out of the SFEG nets and buckets and away from the helpful grasp of our fish rescue crew.  Despite this we successfully rescued almost 8000 fish!

Next year, Skagit County public works will be done with construction and salmon fry born this coming winter will have better access to (and exits from) this excellent habitat.

SFEG fish rescue crew relocating fish from construction area to the Skagit River

 

Juvenile coho salmon removed from harm’s way at Skagit South Fork construction site

 

SFEG Habitat Restoration Coordinator Erin Matthews wearing her fish rescue gear

 

Existing channel before construction, this project will add several more acres of this habitat type to this site

 

 

 

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Request for Proposals: Stream Design for Little Careys Creek Stream and Wetland Restoration

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Click here for the complete Request for Proposals: Stream Design for Little Careys Creek Stream and Wetland Restoration.

The Skagit Fisheries Enhancement (SFEG) is a nonprofit organization formed in 1990 to engage
willing landowners in salmon habitat restoration and watershed stewardship in order to enhance
salmon populations. As a non-governmental organization, we have unique cooperative
relationships with local landowners, conservation groups, government agencies and tribes.
Through the hard work of our volunteers and professional restoration crew, we have been
recognized as a local leader in salmon restoration. As one of 14 Regional Fisheries Enhancement
Groups in Washington State, we are part of a coordinated effort to educate and involve the public
in salmon enhancement activities across the state at the community level.

In 2021, SFEG received funding from the Puget Sound Energy (PSE) Settlement Agreement
Article 505, Aquatic Riparian Habitat Protection, Restoration, and Enhancement Plan to complete
design and permitting for a restoration project that will improve habitat connectivity at Little
Carey’s Creek. The project will restore a straightened portion of Little Carey’s Creek and enhance
on-site wetland and buffers. The Little Careys Creek Stream and Wetland Restoration Site is
located in the SE 1/4, of Section 11, T 35N, R 06E, north of Walders Road in the Town of
Hamilton, Washington (Figure 1). This 39-acre site is owned by Forterra Hamilton LLC. The
western portion of the site is open grassland with a large wetland complex encompassing the
northeastern quarter of the property. The southeast quarter of the site is forested.

SFEG is working with Forterra to design a project that restores Little Carey’s stream habitat and
the wetland and wetland buffer area. The property was formerly used for agriculture, and thus a
historic forest/shrub-scrub wetland was cleared leaving an area now dominated by reed canary
grass. The stream was channelized along the eastern edge of the property to facilitate farming.
The proposed project will develop a design aimed at restoring the channel to its former path
through a remnant forest area on the southeast side of the property. The project will provide
increased winter rearing habitat for salmonids including coho salmon while maintaining high
quality wetland habitat for wildlife. We are also currently conducting outreach to the owners of a
private road/rail route just south of the property and will work with them to develop a design for
improving fish passage where these features cross Little Carey’s Creek.

This phase of the project will develop the preliminary and final designs and plans to restore the
stream channel through the remanent forest, develop costs and obtain permits. In addition, this
phase of the project will develop alternatives for restoring fish passage at the private road
crossing. The next phase of the project will be the construction of the stream restoration.

SFEG is seeking a professional engineering firm to develop a design for moving the existing
incised, channelized stream channel into what was likely the historic channel route winding
through the forest. The restoration plan would increase the length of the forested channel, reduce
the overall slope, and install LWD that will help store gravels, initiate and stabilize a pool riffle
sequence, and improve overall habitat. The engineering firm will also evaluate and provide
alternatives for restoring fish passage at the private crossings of Little Carey’s Creek, including
construction of modular bridges.

The proposal shall be from qualified Design Engineers licensed in the State of Washington. This
document provides additional information that will allow prospective consultants to understand the
scope of the effort and develop a proposal in the format desired by SFEG. SFEG will evaluate
consultants and select a firm to complete the work based on these proposals.

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Little Carey’s stream and wetland restoration site vicinity map (site in red).

Click here for the complete Request for Proposals: Stream Design for Little Careys Creek Stream and Wetland Restoration.