Race Lagoon Passage - Culverts #1893 & 1894

Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group and Island County Public Works are working to replace two fish barrier culverts, culvert 1893 and 1894, under Race Road near Coupeville, WA and a private crossing immediately downstream of Culvert #1894. Removal of these fish passage barriers will open up critical rearing habitat for juvenile salmonids including ESA-listed Threatened Chinook as well as pink, Coho, and chum salmon. These two coastal streams drain to Race Lagoon which has been identified as important pocket estuary habitat for outmigrating salmon from the Skagit, Stillaguamish, and Snohomish Rivers. Pocket estuaries and small coastal streams such as these provide important feeding, resting, and and refuge habitat as juvenile salmon transition from freshwater to saltwater habitat. These culverts were identified during the Culvert Prioritization Inventory conducted by SFEG and Island County during which time a Chinook smolt was found in the stream above culvert #1893. In addition, SFEG has been working with local landowners who are open to additional wetland and riparian restoration upstream of these culverts as a future project. This grant would fund the design of two fish passable structures at culverts 1893 and 1894, and the design of a small bridge crossing and channel meander immediately downstream of culvert 1894 to enhance fish passage. Fish passage barrier removal is one of the most rapid and cost-effective ways of increasing the amount of accessible habitat for salmon.

The goal of this project is to improve access to limited quality rearing habitat for Chinook salmon within these two coastal streams associated with the Race Lagoon pocket estuary. This will be accomplished by removing two fish passage barriers and replacing them with larger fish passable culverts. This will also improve tidal connectivity, natural flow, and sediment transport processes in these streams improving pocket estuary function.