swede creek fish passage

Project Spotlight: Swede Creek Fish Passage Improvement

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This project worked with a private landowner to complete a fish passage barrier removal project on Swede Creek; a tributary to the Samish River north of Sedro-Woolley. Using Family Forest Fish Passage Program funds, SFEG removed four undersized culverts that were creating a barrier to fish passage for coho salmon, steelhead trout, and sea-run cutthroat trout. A 40 ft steel bridge replaced these culverts, creating instant passage for salmon upstream. The Swede Creek Fish Passage Improvement Project built upon a previous downstream fish barrier removal project completed two years prior.

swede creek fish passage

This latest project, completed in 2021, opened fish access to an additional 0.7 miles of high-quality spawning and rearing habitat in Swede Creek including a 6-acre pond, and over 80-acres of wetland habitat.

After project completion, volunteers documented over 100 coho salmon spawning in Swede Creek for the first time in many years. Salmon are returning thanks to working with private landowners to remove these fish passage barriers along on Swede Creek at two locations. SFEG completed the first project in 2019, but salmonids did not make their way back into this Skagit tributary until the completion of the 2021 leg of this project. juvenile trout

Juvenile trout found in Swede Creek

Before the fish passage barrier removal project

newly installed bridge over creek

After the undersized culverts were removed and the bridge was installed

Project Spotlight: Britt Slough Skagit Forks Wetland Reconnection

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Where the Skagit River forks to create Fir Island, Skagit Fisheries implemented a restoration project to reconnect the outlet of Britt Slough and a large wetland complex to the South Fork of the Skagit River. This important Chinook recovery project took place in 2021 on Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) land located between the dike and the South Fork of the Skagit River. This project included engineering assistance provided by the Skagit Conservation District,

This project restored the connection of Britt Slough and a 7.8-acre wetland complex to the Skagit River; this restored off-channel habitat and wetland complex to the Skagit River provides much needed habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon in the lower Skagit floodplain. Young Chinook salmon seek out these areas of slow-moving water as they migrate to estuaries, places salmon can rest and grow to a larger size before reaching salt water. Access to this type of off-channel and wetland habitat is extremely limited in the lower Skagit River floodplain where most of the river is diked.

This project offered a unique opportunity to restore floodplain habitat between the dike and the river on publicly owned land. Skagit Fisheries staff, a Washington Conservation Corps crew, and student volunteers planted 6,950 trees along the restored channel and throughout the floodplain of the project site. This Britt Slough Project is included in the Intensively Monitored Watersheds (IMW) program which evaluates the effects of habitat restoration projects in the Skagit estuary on Chinook salmon growth and survival. Skagit Fisheries volunteers and staff participated in data collection to document salmon use prior to project construction. Skagit Fisheries looks forward to assisting tribal scientists with continuing to collect data at Britt Slough to detect changes in salmon production as a result of this project and as part of the larger study effort to quantify impacts of estuary restoration projects on Chinook salmon populations.

Seining Britt Slough

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juvenile Chinook salmon found in Britt Slough