The 96th Street Oxbow project is located on the right bank of the Puyallup River at river mile 14.5. The site is bounded by the Puyallup River on the west and straddles the intersection of Riverside Drive and McCutcheon Road. The oxbow is approximately 4-acres that has a perched drainage (10 feet above summer flows) to the river and it is choked with invasive vegetation. Currently, the oxbow provides no functions beneficial to fish. The wetland is almost entirely covered with dense Himalayan blackberry. The project involves reconnecting the oxbow (and associated 23 acre wetland) to the mainstem of the Puyallup River by installing a 64-foot long aluminum culvert with a 190-foot channel excavated 4-6 feet wide at 4.9% slope. The culvert and roughened channel will provide juvenile salmonids unrestricted access to the oxbow at all but the lowest summer flows. Juvenile coho, chinook, steelhead and cutthroat will directly benefit from the habitat that is made available by this project. Invasive vegetation (Himalayan blackberry and reed canary grass) will be cleared and re-planted with native plant species within 6-months of construction (seed and mulch will be placed over disturbed soils immediately after construction to prevent erosion of bare soils). **See attached photos.
