WRIA 14 Salmon Habitat Recovery Committee Meeting April 17, 2014 Summary notes Project sponsors provided a brief presentation on their project(s), followed by comments from the Committee. Allyn Shoreline Enhancement Project: Mason CD sponsor, requesting $60,985 from SRFB, PRISM number 14-1586. Project Description: This project involves enhancing up to 480 feet of marine shoreline in Allyn, WA. Specific actions include removing up to 120 of shoreline armor, installing up to 8 habitat trees, and planting native vegetation. This beach has been identified by the Squaxin Island Tribe s Nearshore Project Selection Tool as a high priority for Chinook restoration. Additionally, this project is highly visible to the public and will be an ideal site for public outreach. Will there be pedestrian use? Location within Project Selection Tool demonstrates benefit to Chinook, highest 18.5% noted but not at this location adjacent. Will root wads be attached perhaps. Consider no using anchors for wood, akin to Sargents Oyster House in Case Inlet Goldsborough Habitat Acquisition Phase 3: Capitol Land Trust sponsor, requesting $96,330 from SRFB, PRISM number 14-1433. Project Description: This acquisition project seeks to conserve in fee 40 acres on the North Fork of Goldsborough Creek, near Shelton, WA. The project site, consisting of two 10-ac parcels under the same ownership, as well as 20 acres covered by a waiver of retroactivity as land match, is bisected by over 1,800 feet of North Fork Goldsborough Creek and approximately 1,300 feet of tributaries. The property contains forested and scrub-shrub wetlands that are an active part of the Goldsborough Creek floodplain. The project site is contiguous to property already conserved by Capitol Land Trust with SRFB funding. The property will provide abundant, good quality summer rearing habitat for juvenile coho salmon, steelhead and cutthroat, and winter refuge habitat for juvenile coho, steelhead and cutthroat in the associated wetland floodplain. Highlight location within Goldsborough watershed and relationship to other projects nice. Project occurs directly adjacent to Phase II, completed last year. Second growth trees; property active on the market for sale. Include all properties in Phase II to clarify they are part of this project for match purposes; modify maps and increase acreage.
Like s Creek Supplemental: South Puget Sound SEG sponsor, requesting $79,900 from SRFB, PRISM number 14-1410. Project Description: The project will provide supplemental funds to the currently funded Likes Creek Fish Passage II project (#12-1459). The goal of the project is to restore anadromous fish access to Like s Creek, a major tributary to Goldsborough Creek, opening up spawning and rearing habitat that has not been accessible to anadromous fish for roughly a century due to the impassable culverts. Funds provided previously through the SRFB grant will be coupled with the fund request herein to replace the Simpson railroad culvert. Mason County will provide matching funds to replace the Carman Road North culvert. Additional matching funds are provided by the Squaxin Island Tribe and Dept. of Ecology. The previously awarded SRFB funds and available match did not meet the full project funding need. Additional match has since been secured. The fund request herein will provide the supplemental funds needed to complete the project. This project will be the next key addition to salmonid habitat within the Goldsborough Creek watershed following the completion of the nearby Midway Creek Fish Passage Project and a series of other targeted projects developed over the last several years by multiple local partners in this watershed. Where is the County in their process? Brian preliminary designs done, county will complete their project in 2015 as well. Railroad is currently shut down for safety upgrades and reasons; may impede closures in the future as they are bringing the line up to current regulations. Will there be wood? To control headcutting, grade control structures? Brian not at this time. Committee will look to see designs from Pat Powers, wood optional. Be sure to describe cost savings measure within the application (cutting wood, etc.) and discuss at site visits. Any extra funds would come back to the LE if within 12 months of funding, or could add wood back into designs. Match from Ecology, Husseman account Little Skookum Inlet Riparian Habitat Protection: Forterra sponsor, requesting $1,030,000 from PSAR large capital, PRISM number 14-1397. Project Description: The subject property consists of 816 acres of forests, wetlands, and riparian habitat, and includes nearly two miles of Puget Sound shoreline along Little Skookum Inlet. The freshwater habitats on the property are home to fall chum; the marine shoreline along the property also provide habitat for juvenile Chinook, Coho and steelhead. The marine shoreline also provides habitat Cutthroat trout. The shoreline of the subject property as well as the bedlands of Little Skookum Inlet is also highly productive shellfish growing areas. The property owner wishes to sell a conservation easement on the property to extinguish the development rights (zoned R10 and R5), permanently protecting it from conversion to non-open space uses (i.e. residential development). The placement of a conservation easement would prevent increases in fecal coliform contamination and water temperature of the
property s salmon-bearing streams and nearshore habitats. These impacts are often associated with residential development, which have historically occurred within nearshore areas. Protecting the subject property via a conservation easement will ensure that its marine shoreline, riparian habitats and forested uplands will continue to provide water quality and habitat benefits. Protection of the subject property will not only directly benefit priority salmonid stocks and their habitats, but also the forage fish that utilize Little Skookum Inlet that Chinook, Coho and other species predate upon. Easement would extinguish development rights; what about timber harvest? Expectation that easement would go beyond current forest practices. Zoned R-10 and R-5 Match discussion consider asking for the entire project amount to ensure project occurs and you may lose more points than you gain with match question. Buffer width for timber harvest would like it based upon SMP or CAO, not forest practices act. Would like Forterra or other conservation organization to have first right of refusal should Pt. Blakely choose to sell in the future. Clearly identify what elements of the property will be included in the easement Oakland Bay Stewardship: Capitol Land Trust, sponsor, requesting $15,000 from SRFB; PRISM number 14-1432 Project Description: This project seeks to ensure the success of riparian restoration projects on two of the largest conserved shoreline properties on Oakland Bay - Twin Rivers Ranch Preserve and Oakland Bay Historical Park, through stewardship of 12 acres of previously installed riparian plantings on Deer, Cranberry, and Malaney Creeks. This project builds upon the two SRFB projects that conserved these high functioning Oakland Bay freshwater and estuarine shoreline sites. Following conservation, degraded riparian buffers were planted with a diverse mix of native tree and shrub species to speed succession to mature forest and to improve salmonid rearing habitat. Capitol Land Trust and partners will maintain installed plantings, remove competing invasive plant species in the shoreline riparian zone, and replace unsuccessful plantings. Is the funding for maintenance beyond the initial implementation? Consider watering for at least a year after the replanting of the site to ensure better success. Drip irrigation is a great choice SIT has a system that works well and can help. Consider increasing funds to accommodate survival and watering and remember to justify why in the application. Consider augmenting with compost to increase survival and water retention.
Shelton Harbor Restoration Phase I: South Puget Sound SEG sponsor, requesting $209,950 from SRFB; PRISM number 14-1412 Project Description: The primary goal of this project is to enhance and restore physical processes, habitat complexity, and salmonid habitat within the lower reach of Goldsborough Creek and its adjacent delta in Shelton Harbor. The project is an initial step (Phase I) towards the larger proposed restoration of the creek mouth and a large portion of the harbor (Phases II and III). Both this Phase I proposal and the proposed future phases aim to reverse large-scale degradation of lower Goldsborough creek and its delta resulting from commercial and industrial activities extending back for more than a century including dredging, armoring and the direct elimination of salt marsh and near shore habitat. Specific objectives proposed for this Phase I project include the placement of up to 14 engineered log structures (ELJ s) in strategic locations at the mouth of Goldsborough Creek to increase hydraulic complexity, promote sediment depositional areas, develop distributary channels, and provide woody cover and habitat for juvenile salmonids. The project will utilize a design-build approach working from a Preliminary Design that will be included with matching funds. 30% designs from Simpson will be complete by the final application submittal; Final designs should take into consideration sea-level rise; Clarify objectives of each phase of the project. Shelton Harbor Restoration Phase II and III: South Puget Sound SEG sponsor, requesting $145,000 from SRFB; PRISM number 14-1413 Project Description: This is a Design-only project with the goal of completing a Preliminary Design (30%) for the restoration and enhancement of the Goldsborough Creek delta and surrounding shoreline. The design process will include data collection, stakeholder facilitation, and development of a suite of design alternatives. The project area represents Phases II and III of the larger nearshore restoration project. Phase I of the project will be for initial enhancement of the mouth of Goldsborough Creek and the preliminary sediment sorting and retention that will enable restoring the delta sediment to levels that can support salt marsh and inter-tidal habitat. The cumulative project Phases and total restoration area will encompass up to approximately 45 acres of salt marsh and ¾ mile of shoreline. As above, clarify objectives of each phase of the project West Oakland Bay Conservation and Restoration: Squaxin Island Tribe sponsor, requesting $1,804,100 from PSAR large capital; PRISM number: 14-1403 Project Description: This project consists of 4 phases of conservation, restoration and planning. Conservation consists of acquisition of 14 acres of High Priority habitat on Eagle Point. Restoration components include the construction of logjams in the Goldsborough Creek delta and the enhancement of tidelands to promote growth of intertidal vegetation. A bulkhead remediation and bank enhancement
project will be designed for the north shore of the harbor. All restoration will occur in areas rated as High Priority and Enhance High Priority. The project is located in the Goldsborough Creek estuary, Shelton Harbor, West Oakland Bay in Mason County, South Puget Sound. The Eagle Point conservation consists of the fee simple purchase of 2 acres of freshwater wetland, 4 acres of tideland, 8 acres of riparian upland and 1600 feet of marine shoreline. The restoration component consists of two related projects- 1. We will construct 14-engineered logjams at the mouth of Goldsborough Creek to capture sediment released from a City of Shelton project to remove abandoned pipes from the stream bed; 2. We will import bed materiel to intertidal Shelton Harbor to create benches/shelves at appropriate elevations that will allow for recruitment of natural vegetation. A planning project will produce a 30% design for the removal of a bulkhead on Port of Shelton and Simpson Mill property. The shoreline will then be reconfigured to a more natural slope that will be selfsustaining while fitting with the Shelton Harbor project. Clarify each project stage, goal and benefit Results Chain Presentation from Mike Parton: Results chains are essentially logic models which have been distilled from the 2005 Chinook Recovery Plan. Mike shared a PowerPoint presentation, which is available for viewing on the Mason Conservation District website (www.masoncd.org).