LAKE FOREST PARK — Stewardship Foundation members may be the most trust-worthy when telling fish tales, as their stories do not involve fish of any size.
This may change in coming years, however, as group members strive to return Coho Salmon to Brookside Creek. A series of three restoration projects will eventually be completed, to restore the natural flow to the creek, a tributary of McAleer Creek.
“We have to have a healthy stream for the fish that are going to be coming,” said project manager Mamie Bolender. “As far as we know, fish can’t get past the culvert down there.”
The second of three projects will commence August 29, after much planning by Stewardship Foundation members, who strive to preserve open space. The project involves removing three man-made barriers to fish migration. The barriers are on a small portion of Brookside Creek, located on private property on 35th Avenue NE. The small section of stream is not a natural stream channel, but was once deviated from its original path.
Barriers include a man-made waterfall, a driveway culvert (which will be replaced with an expanded culvert) and a second waterfall that was at one time used as a heat source for a nearby house. The former owner of the home, an engineer, used water from the stream to heat the house, employing a mechanism in the stream bed to catch water.
After the removal of the three barriers, the stream bed will be lined with cobbles, gravel and boulders. Sharp rocks will be removed from the stream side, as they are not friendly to fish. The result will be a gentle slope for fish to travel, with small waterfalls and pools, Bolender said.
“This needs to be done because Brookside Creek is formerly a Coho Salmon stream,” Bolender said. “They used to go up to the top, near Grace Cole Park, and spawn up there.”
People who lived near Brookside Creek in the 1960s testified that Coho Salmon once inhabited the Brookside Creek before man-made barriers were built, she said.
Fish will not likely inhabit the stream until after the completion of the third restoration project, as fish will be unable to travel upstream until the last man-made barrier is removed. The third project is still in the planning stages and Stewardship Foundation members are considering completing a feasibility study on the third section before applying for a grant.
“We thought we would do projects in consecutive years,” Bolender said. “But it is such a process getting grants.”
Eventually, Bolender said two options exist for salmon migration: salmon may eventually lay eggs in Brookside Creek once they can navigate upstream, or a fish hatchery could be built upstream, to ensure salmon become imprinted with the stream’s characteristics and eventually return to spawn.
Two grants were obtained to fund the second project: a Community Salmon Fund grant (a collaboration of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and King County) for $49,000 and a Waterworks grant for the installation of a new culvert from King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks for $36,000.
To be considered for the grants, the Stewardship Foundation members had to submit a plan, which was prepared by engineers from Steward and Associates and Chinook Engineering firms.
Several permits also had to be obtained from the city of Lake Forest Park, Washington State Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Army Corps of engineers.
Stewardship Foundation members began testing Brookside Creek water on July 9, in preparation for the second project. They used a sampling test developed at the University of Washington, to inventory small animals (mostly invertebrates) that live in the stream bed, including flies, larvae, worms and small mollusks. The testing is to determine the health of the creek.
Two samples were extracted from different locations at the creek, to be sent to a professional laboratory for testing.
“This is part of grant requirements, to do some testing of water quality,” said member Mark Phillips. “The Streamkeepers started doing testing in Lake Forest Park last September.”
Other types of water testing have been completed by the group in the past, but this is the first testing of this nature, called Benthic Inventory of Biological Integrity (BIBI) sampling.
“This tells about the quality of stream water and is likened to a blood test,” Phillips said. “It is a sample that focuses on creatures that live there.”
Member Eleanor Boba said the stream bed will change to create more friendly fish conditions, and the testing will indicate if the creek can support fish.
“The macro invertebrates are different types of larvae and worms that live in the stream, ” Boba said. “They serve as food for fish and the variety and kind that are found help know if the stream is healthy for fish.”
Bolender estimated the major work would not take more than two weeks. In addition to three engineers who designed the project, a contractor, excavation operator and volunteers will assist. In order to have a dry creek bed for the work, a pipe will be installed to catch water and transfer it downstream.
The first project was completed in 2002, located downstream from Grace Cole Nature park. The second section of the project is about 1/2 mile from the first section and the third portion will be even farther downstream. The first project included the removal of a fish barrier, an unearthened breach dam, which was installed by the property owner’s father.
“We still have to apply for a third grant,” Bolender said. “That will be the last physical barrier, a man-made physical barrier we have to address.”
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