Curley Creek Estuary Acquisition

The Great Peninsula Conservancy acquired 17.6 acres to preserve the Curley Creek estuary in Kitsap County south of Manchester. The acquisition comprises the estuarys entire shoreline, the surrounding steep slopes, and six adjacent forested upland parcels.

The Curley/Salmonberry Creek system, one of the largest watersheds in south Kitsap, supports five species of salmonids: Chinook, coho, chum, steelhead and cutthroat. The estuary is in a relatively natural state and in good condition, without any armoring or other development on its shoreline or slopes. Estuaries are critical to the survival of salmon, providing rearing habitat for juveniles and refugia for adults and juveniles, and serving as crucial transition zones for smolts moving from fresh to salt water. Extensive alterations of estuaries and other nearshore areas by humans have seriously harmed these habitats and the species most dependent on them -- particularly chum and Chinook, both present in the Curley Creek estuary.

If these lands had been developed, the mature native forest would have been replaced with residences, drainfields and impervious surfaces, with attendant impacts to the propertys steep slopes, the shoreline and the estuary itself. This acquisition protects these acres for conservation and educational use will keep this estuary in its natural state for use by the diversity of salmonids that use this system and adjacent nearshore areas.

The goal of the project is to protect intact habitat from degradation. The objective of the project is to protect salmon refugia and habitat that are parts of key ecological processes.