Tree Farm Hole Acquisition - Phase 2

The project provided partial funding (45K) for a $1,081,545 136-acre acquisition along the North Fork Stillaguamish River. The parcels protected by this project, while not old growth, are forested with mature second growth and crossed by several side channels, contain some of the best functioning floodplain habitat on the North Fork Stillaguamish. These parcels are now protected in perpetuity by the acquisition. The remainder of funding needed to complete the acquisition came mostly from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board FY 2011 $866,969 and $141,791 om additional funds from FY10 NWIFC PCSRF. The acquisition primarily benefits Puget Sound (Stillaguamish) Chinook, but this section of the North Fork Stillaguamish is also home to threatened Steelhead and Bull trout populations, in addition to chum, coho, sockeye, and pink salmon populations.

NWIFC, the Stillaguamish Tribe, and RCO engaged in extensive dialogue in the summer of 2015 to ensure consistency in the reporting of cost and treatment metrics. The prorated portion of acres protected by this project is 5.81 acres resulting in .04 miles of riparian habitat.

The goal of the project is to protect 136-acres of high quality floodplain habitat from alteration of any kind (logging, development, stream bank armoring, etc.). There are no structures on the land, the riverbanks are unaltered, and the forest is a mixture of maturing conifers and hardwoods that is crossed by several side channels of the North Fork Stillaguamish. The site is listed a priority area for both floodplain and riparian function in the 2005 Chinook Recovery Plan. Although the entire parcel lies within the 100-year floodplain of the North Fork Stillaguamish, the land is zoned rural residential and could be subdivided, cleared, the riverbanks armored, and housing built. The owner is not financial able to keep the parcels any longer and desires to sell soon. Purchasing and protecting the parcels will prevent further degradation of habitat conditions for Stillaguamish Chinook and other salmonids that call this reach home. The Chinook returns to the Stillaguamish have been so low as to exclude direct tribal harvest for several decades; the proposed project will work towards fulfilling restoration and protection goals stated in the Chinook recovery plan. This project will also protect a significant amount of riverbank and side channel within one of the most productive spawning and rearing reaches in the watershed. These parcels contain some of the best floodplain Chinook habitat in the Stillaguamish, it would be a large loss if this land was developed or altered in any way.