Springbrook Cr Preserve Protection & Restoration

In 2019 the Bainbridge Island Land Trust (BILT) acquired 22.85 acres of undeveloped forested wetland, stream and associated riparian habitat in the Springbrook Creek Watershed, Bainbridge Island, WA. The Springbrook Creek Watershed Assessment (SRFB Project # 14-1517) identified the preserve as hosting some of the highest quality stream and wetland conditions within the entire watershed and identified the preserve as the highest priority protection project. Springbrook Creek flows cold and clear within the preserve and is the only area within the watershed to meet water temperature standards year round. The stream is designated critical habitat for federally listed threatened O. mykiss, Puget Sound Steelhead, known through eDNA analysis to be recently present in the lower reaches. This project is listed in the 2020 Puget Sound Steelhead East Kitsap DIP Steelhead Recovery Plan 2020 as a recovery action. Coho, chum, cutthroat also utilize Springbrook Creek, and coho and cutthroat had been detected just downstream of the project area but not upstream of the barrier.

The site stewardship plan summarized the propertys natural resource values and notable features, human history and remaining evidence on the landscape, legal elements from city codes, title, and donor intent, management goals and desired future conditions (including public access), and management tasks to accomplish these goals.

BILT worked with partners including Wild Fish Conservancy to reach final design for removal of the fish-passage-barrier culvert and completion of all required state and federal (Army Corps of Engineers) permits. Implementation occurred in late 2023, restoring fish passage to 0.22 miles of excellent rearing habitat. Invasive plant species were removed from the riparian area in the culvert area about 1,500 native plants installed, with emphasis on flowering and fruiting species of greatest benefit to pollinators and other wildlife, and extending the native plant zone into former pasture. Interpretive signage has been designed to tell the story of the stream restoration work and promote the value of native plants vs. pastures and non-native plants in riparian areas.

Project goals were to protect high priority riparian and wetland habitat for the benefit of on-site and downstream water quality, restore fish passage to .22 miles of upstream habitat, protect capacity of the landscape to handle stormwater events, and restore riparian conditions where degraded by invasive plants. The desired future condition of accessible habitat and high water quality and quantity for aquatic and riparian life on the property and downstream appears to have been met (with monitoring in progress to better evaluate). Species benefited year-round at all life stages include cutthroat, sculpins, Western brook lamprey, and the benthic macroinvertebrate community (including crayfish, which were found just downstream of the culvert during construction prep). Coho will benefit from eggs to smolts year-round and as returning adults in the fall. The protection of perennial flow aids adult coho and steelhead and their egg survival, especially in years when summer drought affects streamflow into the fall spawning period. The desired future condition is for juvenile coho and steelhead to utilize the preserve.