That’s what’s happening in the wetlands in south Marysville. The Tulalip Tribes aren’t building something new. They are rebuilding something old. The hope is by returning the Qwuloolt Estuary to its natural state, salmon will return as big and abundant as ever.

Project manager Kurt Nelson said it’s one of the largest restoration projects ever on the West Coast, valued at $20 million. Funding has come from many federal and state agencies, grants and the Tulalip Tribes.

Nelson said at high tide, the 354 acres will be flooded up to a few feet with a mixture of fresh and salt water. At low tide, much of the area eventually will turn to mudflats, with vegetation along the fringes. Tidal channels dug to help fish survive and Allen and Jones creeks flowing through the estuary will be filled with water at all times.

“The Qwuloolt Estuary Project is of state and even national significance and crucial to salmon restoration in this region,” Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring said.

Chief Administrative Officer Gloria Hirashima added: “We look at this project as an important part of Marysville’s future.  It will become a living ecological and recreational experience for people who live in or visit our community.”

Building an estuary

A levee was built about 110 years ago to contain Ebey Slough so farming could take place on the flats. The Tulalip Tribes started buying the land in 1998 with the goal of restoration.

“This site is unique in that a community of 65,000 surrounds it,” Hirashima said. “As a result, this project was especially complicated because there were many property owner concerns- including potential for flooding and drainage issues, that needed to be addressed and that took time and money to provide solutions and answers.”

One of the concerns was potential erosion of surrounding banks, many of which contain homes nearby. So the tribes are building numerous wave berms on the property. Their job is to reduce the power of the waves that hit the shoreline to cut back on erosion. Native vegetation has and will be planted to shore up the banks.

Another concern of nearby homeowners in the Harborview neighborhood was rodents heading their way once the property is flooded. So workers are mowing many acres of the property. Mowing will kill off many of the rodents and also reduce the invasive grasses.

The Army Corps of Engineers is building a 14 1/2-foot-tall berm on the Northwest side of the property. That will keep the estuary water from contamination from the city’s sewage treatment ponds. A 5-acre stormwater retention pond will be built in-between to treat drainage water before it goes into the estuary.

The Corps will breach about 260 feet of the old levee at the southern end of the property in a few weeks. About 750 feet on both sides of that, the old dike will be lowered about 3 feet to the 9-foot mark. That is so water from Ebey Slough at high tides will spill over the old dike more gradually and not stress the levee.

When the dike is breached, the Corps will dig down to a minus 9 tide level. Since the low tide that day will be minus 1, the Corps’ window for the breach is less than 12 hours. Two excavators will be used.

The Corps will dig a wide channel from the breach to where Allen and Jones creeks meet to help fish make it in and out of the estuary. Nelson said that there will be enough tidal channels that small boats like canoes and kayaks could go in there, but they’d “have to watch the tides” to make sure they don’t get stuck.

Great for fish

The restored estuary will provide a “bonanza of food sources” for fish, Nelson said. He said threatened coho and steelhead salmon and bull trout will be aided in their survival by the estuary.

The abundance of food will allow the juvenile salmon to grow larger before heading into the bay.

“Then fewer predators can nab them,” Nelson said, adding that’s how hatcheries raise fish.

Nelson said it’s not just the Snohomish River that will benefit from the estuary feeding grounds. All the rivers that feed into it also will benefit, such as the Skykomish and Snoqualmie.

“All will benefit from the food in the estuary,” he added. “As long as they remain in the tidal channels the fish will be OK.”

He said currently salmon have a tough time getting up Allen Creek because tide gates open only when water reaches a certain level.

“They stack up out there and get eaten by seals,” Nelson said, adding the new system eliminates the gates so fish have constant access to the creeks.

City trail

The city of Marysville has been one of many partners in the project. At one point there was talk of the entire old dike being removed, but the city wanted to keep it to build a trail. Nehring said the trail will go along the west and east sides of the estuary, but a bridge to connect the two is not in the budget. The west side eventually will be connected to Jennings Memorial Park trails. All told, crews will construct 1.8 miles of new 12-foot-wide trail.

The project “will have added benefit to our community through a planned interpretive walking trail that will further public access to this unique and scenic area of our community,” Nehring said.

 

Quick facts

•In 1994 a regional natural resources trustee council was formed to assess harm caused to natural resources and damages to the public from a now-closed landfill and designated Superfund site in the lower Snohomish Estuary. From 1964 to 1979, three to four million tons of mixed commercial and industrial waste were dumped in the landfill, resulting in the loss of 147 acres of intertidal wetland.

•In 1997 trustees developed a preliminary restoration plan that identified the Qwuloolt Project as having the highest potential for restoring the lost tidal wetlands because of its large size, proximity to the landfill site and similar natural features.

•Qwuloolt means “marsh” in the Tulalip Tribes’ Lushootseed language. Restoration will restore the public’s and Tulalip people’s connection to the marsh.

•Public access will provide environmental education and recreational opportunities for Snohomish County residents and will be a regional tourism asset. The trail will serve pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as open up access for fishing, kayaking and other boating access.

•Tide gates were installed at the mouth of Allen and Jones creeks to create grazing and crop land. These have restricted fish from utilizing critical spawning, feeding and rearing habitat.

•Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration Project is overseen by a planning team with representatives from the Tulalip Tribes, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Ecology, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Natural Resource Conservation Service and city of Marysville. Other partners include the Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Forum, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Puget Sound Partnership and Sound Transit.

•Tulalip Tribes public affairs coordinator Francesca Hillery said after the levee is breached in a few weeks the tribes will have an invitation-only ceremony to honor and bless the project.