MOUNT VERNON — The removal of a culvert at Bonnie Rae Park in Mount Vernon is expected to improve habitat for fish, including coho salmon and cutthroat trout.
While the ongoing work at Maddox Creek will last about a month, it’s a project that’s been discussed — and pushed — for decades.
Kurt Buchanan, a Skagit County resident and now-retired habitat biologist for the state Department of Fish & Wildlife, has prodded for the removal of the culvert for years, advocating for a more expansive habitat for fish in the area.
The coho salmon and cutthroat trout in the stream system, he said, are “persistent,” staying loyal to the stream system and spawning downstream of the culvert.
But that process is cramped by the 233-foot steel culvert, installed in anticipation of a road that was never built. The culvert degraded over time and proved an impassable barrier for fish, which are blocked from several miles of potential spawning and rearing areas.
“That’s the end of the road because they can’t get through it,” Buchanan said. “It’s too long, too steep, too small; it created a waterfall. Even at higher flows, I doubt any fish could jump into the pipe, nevertheless swim against the current the length of it. This was the end of the road.”
Attempts to remove the culvert over the years failed, until a grant and a partnership between local governments spurred the work this summer. It began in late July and is slated to last about 30 work days.
Emily Derenne, a habitat restoration specialist with Skagit County Public Works, said the grant of about $500,000 from the state Department of Ecology will pay for 75% of the project cost, with the city of Mount Vernon and county splitting the remaining cost.
“It’s a good partnership between the city and the county,” she said.
Included in the project will be the removal of the culvert, which was found to be rotting and causing further damage to the stream bed it was perched over; construction of a new channel, including rock and wood habitat structures for fish; and the planting of native vegetation that will provide better shade.
As part of the project, Derenne said, about 70 fish — including salmon and trout, plus two lampreys — were moved downstream out of harm’s way.
Buchanan said he’s visited the project for which he has advocated for so long, taking care to stay far enough away from the work site itself so as not to interfere with it.
Once the work is done, he hopes to visit for a closer look. He may not be the only one.
In the early 1990s, a group of Jefferson Elementary School fifth-graders studied the creek as part of a gifted program under teacher Bonnie Olpin. While no plans are set for sure, there’s talk of a reunion of sorts in the fall.
“I’ve invited them back for a small celebration,” Buchanan said.
August 21, 2020 at 08:00PM
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