Such is the case on the campus of The Evergreen State College, where one mile of prime spawning and rearing habitat soon will be available with the replacement of a fish-passage barrier near the mouth of Snyder Creek.
A 3-foot-wide culvert in the streambed under Sunset Beach Drive Northwest is being replaced with a 55-foot-long, 14-foot-wide culvert that is built to mimic the natural streambed near the creek’s juncture with Eld Inlet.
“Fish won’t even know they are in a culvert when they pass through it,” predicted Jamie Glasgow, director of science and research for the Wild Fish Conservancy.
The college, the fish conservancy, People for Puget Sound and the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group teamed up on the $214,000 project, which should be completed by Horsley Timber and Construction in the next few days in time for returning sea-run cutthroat, coho and chum salmon and possibly steelhead.
The stream flows from the nearby college campus, fed by treated stormwater, wetlands and springs before plunging through a deeply wooded ravine into South Sound.
“This is some of the best small-stream habitat in South Sound,” said Dan Grosboll, a People for Puget Sound habitat-restoration coordinator.
The section of road was overdue for repairs, but it didn’t jump up the college’s priority list until local fish-conservation groups queried college officials about a partnership, campus engineer Rich Davis said.
Funding for the road and fish passage work includes $84,000 from the college, $40,000 from the state Salmon Recovery Funding Board and $90,000 from the state Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program.
The new culvert also will create a healthier ecosystem, allowing sediment, wood and gravel to move more freely downstream to feed the Snyder Creek estuary as fish and nutrients move upstream.
“It’s a model project because multiple goals are being met,” Glasgow said.
The Snyder Creek estuary also connects to 3,200 feet of Eld Inlet shoreline owned by the college. It’s one of the largest remaining undeveloped stretches of shoreline in South Sound, Grosboll said.
The fish and habitat conservation groups are in negotiations with the college to remove the concrete bulkhead along some of that shoreline, but no decision has been made.
Bulkheads, barrier culverts and other shoreline obstructions are threats to salmon habitat throughout Puget Sound, Glasgow said. He said the Snyder Creek project could serve as a model for other cooperative ventures around Puget Sound to boost access to critical spawning and rearing habitat for fish.
John Dodge: 360-754-5444
