This project corrects two fish passage barriers in Dutcher Creek. A fish ladder is improved to meet WDFW criteria, and a culvert under Lackey Road is replaced. The existing culvert is a 60 concrete pipe on a 0.9% slope that drains 1,532 acres of watershed through 1.8 miles of active stream. The culvert is a 100% barrier to salmon passage because of a 2 foot perch, high velocity, and the bare pipe barrel. The stream provides access to a 10 acre wetland near Key Center that is ideal for Coho salmon rearing. Dutcher Creek ends at Dutcher Cove, a 30 acre undeveloped estuary on Puget Sound ideal for chum and chinook salmon smolt feeding and growth. This system will be an ideal chum, coho, and steelhead stream once passage is restored. 1,550 feet downstream from the Lackey Road culvert blockage is a man made salmon rearing pond and fish ladder that needs adjustment. We propose to add two steps to the fish ladder to better accommodate chum salmon passage. The proposed solution is to open this section of Dutcher Creek by making the proposed downstream improvements and installing a 100 foot long, 14 foot diameter aluminum pipe culvert with 5 feet of spawning gravel in the invert at a 1% grade. LWD (four stumps with root wads and four logs) will be placed in the stream to help create pools at the outlet of the culvert.
