Completed in 2005. The Trustees partnered with the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group (SPSSEG), a non-profit conservation
and restoration organization committed to restoring South
Puget Sound salmon habitat.
The project reconnected the oxbow and associated wetland
to the mainstem of the Puyallup River by replacing the
12" diameter culvert with a 72" diameter aluminum
culvert and excavating and widening a 190-foot channel.
The culvert and roughened channel provides juvenile salmonid
access to the oxbow during most flood levels and creates
beneficial habitat for juvenile coho and chinook salmon
and steelhead and cutthroat trout.
Restoration Activities
The 96th Street Oxbow Project was sponsored by the Puyallup Indian Tribe and the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group (SPSSEG). The design objectives included enhancing
the intertidal area for juvenile salmonid migration, establishing
marsh vegetation, and protecting the site for natural
resources.
The site is bounded by the Puyallup River, straddles
a street intersection, and lies beneath a high tension
right-of-way. A small (four-acre) wetland on-site had
perched drainage (10 feet above summer flow) to the river
and was choked by vegetation, which provided no functions
directly beneficial to fish. The wetland was almost entirely
covered with dense Himalayan blackberry which limited habitat
function and use.
Excavating the bottom of the wetland
outlet five feet (150 cubic yards) provided more frequent
inflow from the Puyallup River and allow fish passage.
Flushing allows for export of primary production
and a limited degree of flood storage will become available.
Clearing the invasive vegetation and increasing the flood
frequency in this wetland provides backwater habitat
for juvenile salmon over-wintering and rearing. The shallow
water in the emergent wetlands provides for predator
avoidance and foraging habitat. Overall, the participants
in this project believe that this new habitat will thrive
with its increased plant diversity, invertebrates and
new salmon habitat.
FUNDING
The Trustees contributed approximately $61,000.00 from the Commencement Bay Restoration Account toward the project to enable construction to occur in 2004.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS
Not available at this time.
RELATED DOCUMENTS
Handout on 96th
St. Oxbow Project. Proposal from SPSSEG. 02/04.
Handouts (newsletter/brochure)
about the SPSSEG. Fall 2003.
