EVERETT — For three decades, Snohomish County staff have chipped away at restoration projects across the Snohomish River estuary.
Several islands and a meandering network of brackish channels are ideal conditions for threatened Chinook salmon.
Contractors for the county have removed dikes built over a century ago for flood protection to gradually create more fish habitat throughout the marshy landscape.
Each project in the estuary is a small piece of the puzzle.
“I like to say we’re putting Humpty Dumpty back together,” said Erik Stockdale, planning manager for Snohomish County Surface Water Management.
Erik Stockdale sits on the bow of a boat as it navigates through Union Slough on Tuesday in Snohomish. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
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On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Medina, presented Snohomish County with a ceremonial $960,000 check to restore over 450 acres of tidal wetlands at Chinook Marsh and reconnect Ebey Slough to its natural floodplain. The marsh sits east of Everett, less than a mile from where Ebey Slough splits from the river.
DelBene secured the federal money this spring. It will primarily assist staff with the $65 million project’s design phase. The budget includes $40 million to design and reconstruct the pipeline and $25 million for habitat restoration.
“The big check we got this morning is exactly what we need right now to get this thing moving,” said Mike Rustay, senior habitat specialist for the county.
Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also awarded Snohomish County over $16.7 million for the project’s construction phase.
A City of Everett water transmission line that runs through the Chinook Marsh project site on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024 in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County staff plan to hire contractors to remove an aging 2-mile-long levee built in the 1920s.
Then, in its place, workers would build a new cross-levee to still offer flood protection while making more habitat available for fish.
Construction is expected to begin in 2026, though the project team said that may change, depending on available funding and permits.
A second grant for $500,000 from NOAA will aid the city of Everett in relocating a pipeline that cross through the marsh.
The pipeline is over 60 years old and provides drinking water to Boeing in Everett and other institutions throughout southern Snohomish County.
A section of the Chinook Marsh project site on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024 in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
“That pipeline, in our understanding, would not withstand the next big earthquake,” Stockdale said.
The county has been working with the city, Stockdale said, to create a more seismically stable pipeline.
Ta’Leah Van Sistine: 425-339-3460; taleah.vansistine@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @TaLeahRoseV.
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