At Similk Bay on the south side of Fidalgo Island, a habitat restoration project is in the works that could help reverse the trend for the region’s Endangered Species Act-listed chinook salmon population.
This fall, the Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC), a natural resources agency of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes, completed the first phase of a project to restore a pocket estuary along the bay. When complete, the project will enable the salt water of Similk Bay to enter restored marsh and stream channels during high tides. This creates an important type of refuge juvenile chinook need in order to grow before migrating into the ocean.
This type of estuary habitat has been identified as a key limitation, or bottleneck, for recovering chinook. Research suggests that human development such as roads and dikes destroyed or disconnected an estimated 86% of historic estuary habitat in the Skagit River basin by the 1990s. That includes the placement of Satterlee Road and a protective beach berm along Similk Bay, where SRSC is working with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Skagit County and other partners to reverse the damage.
Similk Bay is within the Swinomish Tribe’s traditional homelands, adjacent to the tribe’s reservation, integral to the Swinomish Shellfish Co. and abuts Swinomish Golf Links, an enterprise of the tribe. Restoring salmon habitat within the bay supports the growth of fish populations and treaty harvests critical to the tribe’s culture and economy.
“Our aim is the recovery of strong and sustainable tribal fisheries and the delisting of chinook salmon,” said Colin Wahl, senior restoration ecologist for SRSC, of habitat restoration goals.
The Similk Bay project site is the fourth pocket estuary SRSC has helped to restore. Previous projects have taken place at Crescent Harbor and Turners Lagoon since 2004.
When finished, the Similk Bay project will open about 18 acres of marsh to tidal influence and 1,400 feet of stream channels to fish. The tidal channel habitat alone could support more than 8,000 chinook smolts on their way from their natal rivers to sea.
“With the Similk restoration project, the Swinomish Tribe is providing an important leadership role in the restoration of essential estuary habitat that our chinook need,” said Swinomish Chairman Steve Edwards. “This is a great opportunity to partner with Skagit County, and state and federal agency partners, to work together toward a sustainable future for our fisheries and other marine natural resources.”
In September and October, SRSC worked with Swinomish Golf Links to dig new stream channels and raise a fairway at the golf course to protect it from tidal inundation resulting from the project. Three pedestrian bridges were also built over the stream channels to support golf course operations.
Completing the project will involve rebuilding Satterlee Road at an elevation to withstand the tides and sea level rise, building a bridge over a new 75-foot channel, and breaching the beach berm to connect the channel with the bay. The existing road relies on a pump drainage system and is subject to seasonal flooding that will worsen with climate change.
The project has been supported with $5.8 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding through NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation and about $2.3 million from the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office, primarily through the state’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board. Additional funding is needed to complete construction.
More information about the project is available at similkrestoration.com.
Above: An artist’s rendition shows how tidal channels are intended to weave into a restored marsh following completion of the Similk Bay estuary project. Images from Skagit River System Cooperative. Story by Kimberly Cauvel.
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