SFEG Online Project Map – Salmon Recovery Portal
The above map is a direct link to our completed projects timeline. This database tracks salmon recovery across the state and in the Skagit Watershed. In addition to a project map, you can view a listing of all our projects through the Salmon Recovery Portal.
This map demonstrates many of SFEG’s restoration projects in our region, which includes Skagit, Island, Whatcom, Snohomish and San Juan Counties. Feel free to zoom into areas of interest and click on the map points to see what the projects are and to get more information. Each site has a summary page associated with it to learn more.
Featured Completed Projects
Edgewater Park
The Edgewater Park Riparian Restoration Project has restored 5.5 acres of riparian habitat in downtown Mount Vernon. Removal of invasive species such as Himalayan blackberry, English ivy, and Japanese Knotweed made two Earth Day planting events in 2013 and 2014 possible, with volunteers from the local community planting over 2,400 native trees and shrubs on those two days. To date, 3,662 native riparian plants have been reintroduced to the project area, and three interpretive signs were installed on site. Learn more about Edgewater Park here.
Howard Miller Steelhead Park
Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group has been working with the Skagit County Parks Department since 2006 to improve habitat at Howard Miller Steelhead Park, in Rockport. In 2012 SFEG re-routed a small tributary back into its historic channel, restoring more than 3/4 mile of stream, including almost 12 acres of wetland complex habitats within the park. The project approximately doubled the inflow into an existing backwater habitat, improving both fish access to the current backwater area and water quality within the slough. Removal of invasive species and replanting of riparian areas along the new channel are further improving habitat conditions that are similar to the existing backwater along the low gradient section of the new channel.
Thatcher Bay
Thatcher Bay is located on Blakely Island in the San Juan Archipelago. The primary goal is to improve natural processes & habitat function of the nearshore habitat in Thatcher Bay through the removal of 12,900 cubic yards of wood waste covering 1.8 acres of valuable nearshore habitat. The objectives are to eliminate toxic sulfide contamination by removing wood waste, restore the forage fish spawning habitat on the beach, and restore intertidal areas to improve benthic flora & fauna habitat. Thatcher Bay was the site of a wood milling operation from 1879 to 1942. Mill waste in the form of sawdust & wood chips was disposed of in the intertidal area Wood chips in the upper intertidal area have completely buried substrates suitable for forage fish spawning. Lower in the intertidal area, the wood waste is releasing sulfide, a natural byproduct of wood decomposition. The restoration of the area includes entirely removing the 12,900 cubic yards of wood waste & contaminated sediments, and refilling the excavated area with sediments common to the surrounding areas.
Lower Day Creek Slough
a volunteer planting event and the newly installed bridge
The Lower Day Creek Slough habitat enhancement is improving fish passage at a farm access road and restoring approximately 20 acres of floodplain riparian forest adjacent to the mainstem Skagit River, lower Day Creek Slough, and a small unnamed side channel. Undersized culverts at the farm road crossing were replaced with a 60-foot long railcar bridge in 2014, improving access to 1700 linear feet of high quality rearing habitat for anadromous fish species. The plantings restore native floodplain vegetation along over 1/2 mile of mainstem and side channel habitat. The site is located in the Day Creek Community, approximately 10 miles east of Sedro-Woolley. The project contributes to ongoing floodplain restoration activities within the Ross Island Reach of the Middle Skagit River.
About Our Projects
We work with willing landowners in riparian restoration projects, improving fish passages, and in-stream restoration projects. If you are an interested landowner, contact us at ykreiss@skagitfisheries.org
