Puget Sound Innovation Stories

Salmon
Don’t Drip and Drive

Don’t Drip and Drive

Helping drivers prevent pollution from drips and leaks Each year, vehicles driving around Puget Sound leak approximately 7 million quarts of vehicle fluids, including motor oil, fuel, lubricants and more into the Puget Sound watershed. Oil and other petroleum products...

Jimmycomelately Creek Restoration

Jimmycomelately Creek Restoration

Partners restore imperiled summer chum salmon and shellfish in Clallam County   Jimmycomelately Creek and its estuary in Clallam County are now home to a robust population of ESA-listed summer chum salmon as well as a thriving commercial shellfish operation. This...

Sultan River Diversion Dam Modification

Sultan River Diversion Dam Modification

Salmon return to Upper Sultan River after 90 years For the first time in 90 years, salmon are using 6.5-miles of stream habitat in the upper Sultan River, thanks to an innovative project by the Snohomish County PUD that opened the river for fish passage past the...

Salmon Creek Estuary Restoration

Salmon Creek Estuary Restoration

Restoring an old mill site to benefit salmon, shellfish, and people The Salmon Creek and Snow Creek estuaries are located within a half-mile from each other in Discovery Bay, forming a complex system of salt and freshwater interchange where young salmon get used to...

Union River Estuary Restoration

Union River Estuary Restoration

Restoring habitat and connecting people and salmon The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife collaborated to return ocean tides to restore salt marsh habitat in the lower Union River, which is part of the larger Lynch...

West Beach Creek Dam Removal

West Beach Creek Dam Removal

Restoring the connection between stream and sea West Beach Creek is one of the few streams in the San Juan Islands without a natural barrier, and so it was historically accessible to salmon. The Northwest Straits Foundation removed a small dam that had been built to...

Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative

Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative

Local people. Local solutions. The Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative catalyzes and empowers local communities to conserve and restore their marine resources. Established in 1998, the Northwest Straits Commission provides funding, training and support to...

Making connections for salmon in the Skagit

Making connections for salmon in the Skagit

Photo credit: Eric Mickelson, Skagit River System Cooperative Project Summary Illabot Creek is a highly productive tributary of the upper Skagit River that supports relatively large populations of Chinook, chum, coho, and pink salmon, native char, and steelhead trout....

Ballard Locks

Ballard Locks

Congressional District: 7 Legislative Districts: 36 WRIA: 8 City, County: Seattle, King County Project Summary: The Hiram M. Chittenden (Ballard) Locks, operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), are critical to the region's economy, transportation and...

Moga Farm Restoration Project

Moga Farm Restoration Project

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 01 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT: 39 WRIA: 7 CITY, COUNTY: Snohomish, Snohomish County   PROJECT SUMMARY The Snohomish River is the second largest producer of Endangered Species Act-listed Chinook salmon in the Puget Sound. The Moga Farm...

Cherry Creek Restoration Project

Cherry Creek Restoration Project

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 01 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT: 45 WRIA: 7 CITY, COUNTY: Duvall, King County COST: $703,000 PROJECT SUMMARY Cherry Creek is the Snoqualmie River's lowest major tributary; its location provides high recovery-benefit potential for Chinook, Coho, and...

Hood Canal Bridge Ecosystem Impact Assessment

Hood Canal Bridge Ecosystem Impact Assessment

Project Summary The Hood Canal Bridge connects people and commerce between the Olympic Peninsula and the rest of Puget Sound. A floating bridge, its pontoons span 83% of the width of Hood Canal and extend 15 feet underwater. The bridge stands between the Pacific Ocean...

Fir Island Restoration

Fir Island Restoration

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 2 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT: 10 WRIA: 3 CITY, COUNTY: Skagit, Skagit County Project Summary The Skagit River and its delta provide habitat to some of the largest runs of Chinook, pink, and chum salmon in the state. Tidal wetlands protect and feed...

Lyre Conservation Area

Lyre Conservation Area

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 6 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT: 24 WRIA: 18 CITY, COUNTY: Dungeness, Clallam County Project Summary The Western Strait of Juan de Fuca, a migratory corridor for Puget Sound salmon, is characterized by small pocket estuaries and high-energy beaches. The...

Calistoga Levee Setback

Calistoga Levee Setback

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 8 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT: 2 WRIA: 10 CITY, COUNTY: Orting, Pierce County Project Summary Man-made levee systems disconnect the river from its floodplain and prevented the large river systems from meandering. In Orting, the Puyallup River would...

Ala Spit Armor Removal

Ala Spit Armor Removal

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 2 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT: 10 WRIA: 6 CITY, COUNTY: Whidbey Island, Island County   Project Summary Ala Spit, on the northeastern shore of Whidbey Island, is an important habitat for juvenile salmon and forage fish, but was damaged by...

Milwaukee Dock Eelgrass Restoration

Milwaukee Dock Eelgrass Restoration

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 06 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT: 23 WRIA: 15 CITY, COUNTY: Bainbridge Island, Kitsap County   Project Summary Long on the decline in Puget Sound, eelgrass is recognized by the Puget Sound Partnership and the Governor's Results Washington program...

Samish Indian Nation Creosote Removal

Samish Indian Nation Creosote Removal

Over the last three years, more than 400,000 pounds of creosote treated wood and marine debris have been removed from both public and private shorelines of Skagit County, Island County, Southern Whatcom County, and the San Juan Islands. Lead by the Samish Indian...

Smith Island

Smith Island

The Smith Island Estuary Restoration Project will benefit threatened salmon, restore ecological systems, and improve flood control and recreation across the region by: Removing a historic levee, excavating channel networks, and installing wood placements to improve...

Seattle Elliott Bay Seawall

Seattle Elliott Bay Seawall

The Elliott Bay Seawall Project involves replacing the old seawall on Seattle's waterfront to protect buildings, roads and utilities while providing shelter for marine life. The project will construct approximately 7,112 lineal feet of seawall along the Puget Sound...

Salish Sea Marine Survival

Salish Sea Marine Survival

Endangered Species Act listed Puget Sound Chinook salmon populations have plummeted by 50% since the mid-80s and steelhead have experienced even steeper declines. Research points to marine survival as the missing link to recovery. The Salish Sea Marine Survival...

Point Defiance Regional Stormwater Treatment Facility

Point Defiance Regional Stormwater Treatment Facility

Polluted stormwater is one of the biggest threats to Puget Sound, and the Point Defiance Regional Stormwater Treatment Facility helps counter that threat. Before the facility was built, polluted stormwater from a 754-acre watershed flowed untreated before spilling...

Nooksack River

Nooksack River

A habitat restoration effort on the Nooksack River aims to help two important populations of Puget Sound Chinook salmon recover from dangerously low numbers. As with other salmon recovery actions undertaken by the Nooksack Indian Tribe, the goal of the...

Maury Island & Quartermaster Harbor

Maury Island & Quartermaster Harbor

Thanks to improved water quality, the Washington State Department of Health recently reopened 180 acres of shellfish beds on Vashon Island to commercial and recreational harvesting for the first time in 20 years. Water quality in Quartermaster Harbor suffered not...

Leque Island Estuary

Leque Island Estuary

In the Stillaguamish River watershed, 85 percent of historical tidal marsh habitat has been displaced by other uses. Leque Island's tidal marsh habitat is particularly valuable for young Chinook salmon as they transition from fresh water to saltwater but it is...

Chambers Bay & San Juan Islands

Chambers Bay & San Juan Islands

Chambers Bay was the site of the 2015 United States Golf Association U.S. Open tournament. Hood Canal is home to the deepest part of Puget Sound. Both are beautiful places—but herring don't care about the scenery. They come to spawn. These sites, along with...

Cranberry Creek

Cranberry Creek

Cranberry Creek, a tributary to the Stillaguamish River, is home to endangered steelhead and bull trout. It is also an important salmon spawning stream, but an old, corroding culvert was preventing migrating fish from getting where they needed to go. A culvert...

Cedar River Knotweed Removal

Cedar River Knotweed Removal

Stewardship in action: removing invasive knotweed one property at a time Invasive knotweed is an aggressive invader of riparian habitats throughout Western Washington. The plant displaces native vegetation and destabilizes riverbanks, disrupting natural habitat...

Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration

Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration

Led by the Tulalip Tribes, the Qwuloolt Estuary restoration is one of the largest restoration projects in Puget Sound. (Qwuloolt is the Lushootseed word for "marsh.") Located within the Snohomish River floodplain, the estuary historically encompassed tidal...

Capitol Hill Water Quality Project—Swale on Yale

Capitol Hill Water Quality Project—Swale on Yale

Whenever it rains, untreated stormwater from more than 600 acres of north Capitol Hill, in Seattle, drains directly into Lake Union. Stormwater flows down buildings and across the streets, collecting pollutants before being discharged to the lake. Lake Union is a key...

Skokomish Estuary Restoration

Skokomish Estuary Restoration

The Skokomish River floods more frequently than any river in Washington, and yet the river channel often goes dry during Chinook salmon migration. This is because nearly half of the Skokomish River estuary had been converted to diked farmland, which contributed to...

Rainbow Bend

Rainbow Bend

Rainbow Bend on the Cedar River was the site of an ambitions levee removal and floodplain restoration project that provided flood risk reduction benefits and restored salmon habitat. The project's first stage included buying a flood-prone mobile home park and...

Clarks Creek

Clarks Creek

Clarks Creek near the city of Puyallup was the site of a recent study conducted by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. The two-year study examined sediment sources throughout the creek, and investigators found that if 23 major sources of sediment were repaired, more...

Duwamish Gardens in Tukwila

Duwamish Gardens in Tukwila

Duwamish Gardens will provide nearly an acre of shallow-water habitat for salmon, as well as a pleasant park for urban residents to enjoy. Young salmon need off-channel, shallow-water habitat, where they can feed on insects and invertebrates that live among the...

Dickerson Creek

Dickerson Creek

Dickerson Creek's upper reaches have some of the best salmon spawning and rearing habitat in Puget Sound. But Dickerson Creek and adjacent Chico Creek have been affected by streamside residential development and aging, undersized culverts. The culverts were identified...