Stillaguamish Floodplain Acquisition FY 2014

This NWIFC PCSRF project was used to support acquisition of one parcel (Eubanks parcel) on North Fork Stillaguamish River. This project is associated with a larger SRFB RCO project #14-1356 which identifies two parcels that will be acquired and restored. This project is only reporting a prorated acquisition metrics associated with Eubanks parcel. In the initial project description two potential properties were identified (Pharazyn and Hebert parcels). The Pharazan parcel acquisition is still being pursued by the Tribe as part of RCO’s #14-1356, but is no longer in association with this NWIFC project. The Hebert parcel was acquired with RCO project #14-1356 funds and will be reported by RCO.

The project provided partial funding ($110K of $330K) for the 27.53 acre Eubanks acquisition along the North Fork Stillaguamish. The total property metrics were prorated between the two funding sources. Based on the total property metrics, the NWIFC PCSRF funds contributed approximately (1/3 of the funding) and therefore prorated metrics of 9.17 acres and 0.15 miles protected are reported. The acquisition includes only one side of the river.

The shift in NWIFC PCSRF reporting to the purchase of Eubanks parcel was made for logistical reasons, including time to project completion, and the desire to simplify PCSRF expenditures by focusing them on a single worksite.

The goal of the project is to protect up to 210-acres of high quality floodplain habitat from degradation (logging, development, stream bank armoring, etc.), and provide locations for future instream and riparian restoration projects along more than 6000 feet of stream channel. The Tribe is in active talks with landowners along the North and South Fork Stillaguamish at several locations, all of which are along reaches of the watershed that are priorities for habitat protection and restoration according to the 2005 Stillaguamish Chinook Recovery Plan. Large scale acquisitions are needed in the Stillaguamish as it has been difficult to find willing landowners to implement the quantity of instream and floodplain projects needed to achieve Chinook recovery goals.

Purchasing, protecting, and restoring (eventually) the parcels will reverse the continued decline of instream habitat conditions for Stillaguamish Chinook and other salmonids. Depressed Chinook returns to the Stillaguamish have excluded direct tribal harvest for several decades, and limit harvest opportunities across the Pacific Northwest. This has severely restricted the Treaty Rights of the Stillaguamish and other treaty tribes.

The acquisition strategy addendum to the Stillaguamish Recovery Plan calls for the purchase of more than 7000 acres along the mainstem, North, and South Fork Stillaguamish, primarily in the floodplain. The goal of the strategy is to acquire a corridor of lands along the Chinook bearing waters of the Stillaguamish. This will allow the restoration of unrestricted riverine processes, which are central to achieving the restoration targets detailed in the Recovery Plan. The proposed project will make incremental progress towards the acquisition goals.