The Skagit Valley Herald (subscription required) had a story yesterday about plans to restore tidal flooding to Wiley Slough. The project is a partnership between Skagit River System Cooperative and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, with the help of other agencies.
In an effort to improve habitat for the threatened chinook salmon, the project would restore 175 acres of the department’s Skagit Wildlife Area on Fir Island to its once natural state as an intertidal estuary. The revived estuary would create an additional 7.3 miles of tidal channel, which would give back the habitat that juvenile chinook have historically used to gain strength as they prepare to swim out to sea.
