Snohomish PUD cuts ribbon on new Sultan River side channel

SULTAN — Community members and local government representatives donned paper salmon hats on Thursday as Snohomish County Public Utility District employees prepared to cut the ribbon on a newly completed side channel on the Sultan River.

The side channel project added an additional 1,900 linear feet of stream habitat, aiming to provide juvenile salmon with places to grow and rest, as well as 135,000 square feet of restored riparian area packed with over 6,000 native plants.

The PUD completed in-water construction in August 2024 and since then has already observed juvenile and adult salmonids utilizing the new streambed, which includes engineered log jams to give young salmon a place to rest and hide from predators.

“We can’t speak highly enough of what side channels mean for the salmon,” said the PUD’s Manager of Natural Resources, Andrew McDonnell. “We’ve seen a plethora of juveniles throughout the side channel network, including this new extension here, and they seem pretty happy. That’s kind of the coolest thing about this project. A year or so ago, this was just a field.”

In 2012, the PUD created a network of side channels on the Sultan to fulfill environmental stewardship obligations for the relicensing process of the utility’s Jackson hydroelectric dam.

The utility was required to create 10,000 linear feet of stream habitat, but went above the standard, opening 11,700 linear feet of new channels for salmonids and other local species to inhabit.

PUD biologists monitored the constructed system over the next decade, observing all the ecological benefits the team hoped to achieve with the new habitat. Even though the utility wasn’t required to, the district decided to expand upon its work to further restore salmon habitat along the river.

In 2020, the PUD received a grant from the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office to design a new side channel. In 2023, the utility district was awarded a $1.25 million grant from the state’s Department of Ecology for construction.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, PUD Commissioner President Sid Logan acknowledged the channel project was made possible by the partnership of the city of Sultan, Volunteers of America Western Washington and a private landowner, which all gave conservation easements for the PUD to construct the channel through their land.

“This type of public, private collaboration for the benefit of the salmon, our ecosystems and our communities is phenomenal,” Logan said. “Salmon and steelhead are both (culturally) and ecologically significant to our region, and the recovery is essential to our region and our water, the health of our waterways, but also for their communities and traditions that depend on them.”

Guided by scientists from the PUD, community members meandered along the new channel, excitedly pointing to riffles in the stream. Two humped, scaly backs of adult male pink salmon cut through the reflections on the water, splashing through the gravel as they fought with each other over the chance to fertilize a female’s eggs.

With winding paths through Osprey Park that cut across the propery owner’s land, residents will be able to experience firsthand watching more and more salmon make their way up the Sultan River and its side channels, mating and laying eggs.

“Collaboration was key to the success of getting this project done in a timely manner and a beneficial manner, and that we all can enjoy for many generations to come,” said PUD Lead Environmental Compliance Specialist Dawn Presler.

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.