Project Spotlight: Cold Creek Tributary Fish Passage Improvement

This project, completed in 2022, removed an undersized culvert and improved fish passage on an unnamed tributary of Cold Springs Creek in the Nookachamps watershed. This fish passage barrier was removed and replaced with a galvanized steel arch pipe that meets the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) recommendations for fish passage requirements. The WDFW defines fish passage barriers as items like “road culverts, dams, dikes, and other obstructions — [that] reduce the distribution and habitat available to fish, including salmon and steelhead”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was one of many projects SFEG has taken on to remove and replace such barriers with accommodations that will allow unrestricted fish passage.  Due to the slope of the old culverts, coho, rainbow trout, and sea run cutthroat trout were blocked from migrating 100% of the time, but this new larger culvert on the unnamed tributary now grants these fish access to 2 miles of previously unused spawning and rearing habitat. Funding from the Family Forest Fish Passage Program (FFFPP), a program that supports removal of fish passage barriers on privately owned land, allowed for this project to be mutually beneficial to fish and the landowners alike.