2024 Fish Barrier Assessment

The Tulalip Tribes is actively engaged in Fish Passage Barrier remediation throughout the Snohomish River Basin including habitat improvements and remediation of culverts, dams, and fishways listed as fish passage barriers. Despite past efforts there are still over 50 culverts in the basin on streams with potential for fish spawning above them. These culverts have not been assessed and their status as fish barriers is unknown. The purpose of this project is to determine the fish barrier status of over 50 culverts in the Snohomish River Basin for which no fish barrier information exists and which need to be assessed. Work will consist of assessing the culverts for fish passage using WDFW fish passage barrier assessment methods and prioritizing these culverts for replacement with fish passable culverts.

The benefit of this project will be the potential replacement of up to 50 undersized culverts with fish-passable culverts to further expand the available spawning habitat for salmon in the Basin. The project will identify locations where culverts may be preventing access for salmon to upstream spawning grounds so that they can eventually replaced to allow fish access upstream of the road crossing.