MARYSVILLE – Terry Williams had a dream. And Kurt Nelson made it come true.
Lots of others helped. And on Sept. 2 they all gathered at the Hibulb Cultural Center in Tulalip to celebrate. They were honoring the 20-year project known as the Qwuloolt Estuary in southeast Marysville.
“Everything starts with a dream,” Tulalip Tribes Chairman Mel Sheldon said. “Terry Williams, thank you for your dream. It’s part of your legacy.”
Williams has been involved in watershed planning for decades. This $20 million project is just one of 24 planned along the Snohomish River and outlying areas.
Williams, the tribes’ treaty rights commissioner, said he was glad to help “give this opportunity for the fish and the fisherman.”
One of the main goals of the project of breaching a dike along Ebey Slough and having a mixture of salt and fresh water flow into a 354-acre field to bring back the salmon in great size and numbers.
Nelson, the project manager for the last 11 years, fought to make it happen.
“This is a great, great, great day,” he told a few dozen people as they looked down at the project from a nearby hillside. They had to overcome many obstacles and hurdles, he added.
Nelson said he has been watching video of the area flooding and then draining with the tides. In fast motion, he said it looks like the “site is breathing. We brought life back to an isolated flood plain,” he added.
A few days after the breach, marine life already has been seen all the way to the northeast corner of the property in Jones Creek.
Along with salmon, the project will do so much more. He mentioned water quality will improve, especially in Jones Creek. Waterfowl habitat will improve, as will recreational opportunities and flood control.
Also:
•1.8 miles of berms were built where vegetation will be planted and that will hold back waves from eroding soil along its banks.
•A 4,000-foot levee was built to separate the estuary from nearby industrial sites.
•Two miles of channels were “re-plumbed” Nelson said to help the estuary drain properly.
•State, federal, tribal and local funds were used, along with foundation money, to “spread the pain” of the cost, Nelson said.
At a luncheon, tribal vice president Glen Gobin thanked the elders and ancestors who started this journey. He said the key to the project coming to fruition was the continuation and collaboration of values.
“We need to protect the environment we live in or we will not be here,” he said.
Tribal secretary Marie Zackuse thanked the creator and past leaders.
“And Kurt for hanging in there,” she said, adding many times he probably wanted to quit.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., thanked everyone for “not giving up on the project. It took a lot of late night and weekend work to get across the finish line,” he said.
Larsen agreed with most of the other speakers that if not for great collaboration among many groups the project might not have happened.
“We took a big step forward in salmon restoration,” Larsen said. “By working together we can make big strides throughout the Pacific Northwest.”
Col. John Buck of the Army Corps of Engineers agreed.
“The last century there has been a lot of desecration of the environment,” Buck said. “This is a significant step forward.”
While he appreciated the collaboration of all of the participants, Buck singled out the tribes’ “dedication, vision and leadership.”
In introducing Marysville Chief Administrative Officer Gloria Hirashima, Sheldon joked the project “clearly was a journey.” He said at the start participants were all hugging each other, but “in the middle there’s not the look of love in the eyes,” he said to laughter. “But in the end we all embrace,” he added as he hugged Hirashima.
She agreed there we “so many challenges” doing this project in an urban environment. She said the city needed to protect housing and recreation while the tribes focused on natural habitat and environment.
But in 25 years of working for the city, “This is the pinnacle event in the city’s history,” she added.
On Aug. 28, bulldozers breached the levee. Soon after kayaks were seen on the flooded wetlands.
“This is the first large restoration project in the Snohomish estuary, the first of many, and sets the stage for a basin-wide recovery,” Sheldon said.
Along with restoring habitat for one of the largest remaining populations of wild Puget Sound chinook salmon, the project also will restore ecological systems. The levees cut off the Qwuloolt Estuary from the rest of the waters in the early 1900s, converting it to farmland.
“This breach today represents one of the best opportunities in our region to make a real difference to salmon populations in Puget Sound,” Jennifer Steger of NOAA said.
