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

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.