SHELTON – The Squaxin Island Tribe will use a nearly $1 million federal grant to restore Goldsborough Creek, one of the largest and most important salmon streams in deep South Sound. “This grant gives us the ability to address the health of Goldsborough Creek on several fronts,” said John Konovsky, environmental program manager for the Squaxin Island Tribe.
The grant will fund a project with three goals: restoring and protecting habitat in the creek, protecting stream flows, and restoring habitat in the creek’s estuary while preserving a working port.
“We want to balance the health of the watershed and bring back salmon to strong levels, while also sustaining the strength of the local economy,” said Andy Whitener, natural resources director for the tribe. “There’s a lot of room here to do the right thing, we want to capitalize on that.”
Goldsborough Creek was the site of a 34 foot high dam that was removed almost 10 years ago, opening 25 miles of salmon habitat. Since then, the tribe has tracked an increase in juvenile coho production despite an overall decline in wild coho populations in the region. “There is great potential in Goldsbrough to protect and restore habitat, and increase coho populations even more,” Konovsky said. “Because they spend more than a year in freshwater before outmigrating, coho are especially vulnerable to changes in freshwater habitat.”
The project will focus on restoring and protecting habitat in the creek around the former dam site. The first step will be to complete the purchase by the Capitol Land Trust of a stretch of the creek that already contains good salmon habitat. Habitat work also will include construction of several logjams and reconnection of the creek to several wetlands, providing additional habitat for juvenile and adult fish, while also helping control fine sediment in the creek.
The stream flow portion of the project will include a hydrologic study to uncover connections between flows in the creek and groundwater supplies. “When groundwater and the creek are connected, pumping wells nearby the creek for drinking water decreases stream flow,” Konovsky said. “Understanding the details of the connection will help us figure out whether its possible to develop new water supplies that do little or no harm to the creek.” Late summer flows in Goldsborough are already below the state mandated threshold and limit coho productivity.
The tribe will also work with landowners around the Shelton Harbor — including the city, the port and two timber companies — to identify options to restore important habitat while also maintaining the working nature of the port. “We feel there are restoration opportunities here that won’t mean lost productivity for the port,” Whitener said. “Working with local governments and landowners is important to us because we want to ensure a stable local economy and preserve the watershed.”
“The tribe’s treaty rights to harvest salmon depend on the ecological health of streams like Goldsborough Creek,” Whitener said. “The tribe’s economy has always depended on the health of natural resources, so we see our livelihood and watershed health go hand-in-hand.”
(END)
For more information, contact: John Konovsky, environmental program manger, Squaxin Island Tribe, (360) 432-4304. Emmett O’Connell, information officer, NWIFC, (360) 528-4304, [email protected]
