EVERETT — Adopt A Stream Foundation is teaming up with volunteers from Crane Aerospace & Electronics on Wednesday to install the first of multiple planned engineered logjams and man-made beaver dams in North Creek.
Man-made beaver dams, also known as beaver dam analogs, are designed to mimic the form and function of natural dams, and can help attract the animals to certain stream stretches, the foundation’s press release stated.
“The purpose of adding logs in the channel and us acting like beavers in North Creek now is to get ready for the fall rains,” AASF Stream Restoration Manager Walter Run wrote in a press release. “This will be a fun project that we can do quickly that will benefit the creek’s struggling salmon and trout populations and future stream flows.”
Foundation director Tom Murdoch, who has been observing North Creek since 1978, witnessed it go dry in the summer for the first time in 1987, he said in the release. As more infrastructure has been built in the area, the creek has gone drier earlier and for longer periods of time in the year, he said.
“Except for isolated pools, North Creek’s mainstem on the 2.4 miles between Evergreen Way to McCollum Park went dry on or about May 1st, 2025,” Murdoch said.
The foundation will continue to install more logjams throughout the summer, mostly with volunteers. For those who want to help in the projects, call 425-316-8592 or email aasf@streamkeeper.org.
The project is also supported by Orca Conservancy and a Washington State Department of Ecology Stream Flow grant.
Eliza Aronson: 425-339-3434; eliza.aronson@heraldnet.com; X: @ElizaAronson.
Eliza’s stories are supported by the Herald’s Environmental and Climate Reporting Fund.
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