EDMONDS — As drivers approach the ferry terminal along Edmonds Way, they might see hints of what existed 150 years ago.

Cattails poke up along both sides of the road. There’s a 32-acre fresh- and saltwater marsh that is home to an annual bird festival.

The cattails and wetland are remnants of what was once a 100-acre marsh. As documented on an 1870 map, it stretched from what is now Marina Beach Park north to Brackett’s Landing.

“When we show that map to people in Edmonds, they’re like, “What? No way!” said Keeley O’Connell, a senior project manager for the Seattle nonprofit Earthcorps.

What O’Connell, a consultant, and the city of Edmonds now hope to do is turn back at least a few pages of the marsh’s biological calender, allowing saltwater to flow more freely, providing more habitat for animals and establishing a safe harbor for young salmon to eat and grow before they enter Puget Sound.

All this would come by restoring a more natural flow to Willow Creek into and out of the marsh. Plans call for freeing about 1,000 feet of the creek from pipes in which it has been encased since the 1960s, allowing it to meander toward the beach.

Juvenile salmon, once they migrate out of streams, are looking for salt marshes to rear in.

“Salt marshes are really important in their life cycle,” O’Connell said. “There are fewer predators, lots of hidey-holes and shade to keep the water cool.” Salmon are so driven by a sense of smell that they can detect the location of a marsh, she said.

Fish slightly bigger than fingerlings could feed and grow in the marsh until they’re better able to survive in Puget Sound, said Phil Williams, the city public works director. The marsh and restoration of the creek will serve all species of young salmon, including juvenile chinook.

It also could benefit coho salmon returning home to spawn, something that hasn’t happened in Willow Creek for more than 50 years, O’Connell said.

“We’ve had fish biologists look at the project,” O’Connell said. “They feel if we can re-create the channel connection between the marsh, across the beach and to the Sound, juveniles and adult salmon can get in there.”

The idea of restoring Willow Creek has been under way for three years. First came feasibility studies. Restoring streams in urban environments is extremely expensive, O’Connell said. In the case of Willow Creek, it could cost $9 million. So the city and the state first wanted to know that the project could have the hoped results.

The most recent step came last week, with a $157,331 grant from the state Recreation and Conservation office. The money will be used to prepare a preliminary design and for permit applications to open the creek from the marsh, under the nearby railroad tracks, across Marina Beach and into Puget Sound. The city will contribute at least $36,160 to this part of the project.

“The marsh outlet is a combination of a narrow ditch with buried pipes and vaults,” said Susan Zemek, a spokeswoman for the state agency.

If they’re able to get the water out of the pipes, “they’ll be able to open up access to 32 acres of marsh, which would be great for young fish,” she said.

It’s the first time the city has planned to free a creek from pipes and “daylight” a stream, said Williams, the public works director. Design work and finding the money to pay for the project could take two to three years, he said.

Fisheries biologists working for the Tulalip Tribes have found that young salmon will go relatively far up coastal creeks to rear and find food, O’Connell said.

The young fish ride the tides, she said, and eventually will find their way in and out of the marsh.

Incoming adult salmon wouldn’t have any problem making their way from the Sound, up the creek, through the marsh and into bubbling sections of stream where they could lay their eggs, O’Connell said.

Fish from the creek’s hatchery now are released into area rivers. Outgoing fish would not be able to navigate the 1,600 feet from the hatchery through the creek, with its long sections of pipe and sharp turns to an outlet deep in Puget Sound.

About 98 percent of all the salt marshes between Everett and Tacoma have been lost, O’Connell said. “The fact that Edmonds has 32 acres that never got filled and developed is really … a very unique opportunity in our region,” she said.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.