DESCRIPTION
South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group (SPSSEG) used this funding to replace a fish passage barrier culvert located near the town of Allyn in Mason County. The culvert was beneath Sherwood Drive and was replaced with an 18-foot wide 30-foot long pre-cast concrete box culvert to provide unrestricted fish passage at all stream flows. Fish species benefiting from this project include coho, chum, winter steelhead, resident and coastal cutthroat.
The old culvert restricted passage to all of Anderson Lake Creek since it was located within 200 feet of the mainstem of Sherwood Creek. SPSSEG was the lead on design, engineering, and implementation with Mason County Department of Public Works and Department of Community Development providing design review and construction supervision.
In addition to the culvert replacement, SPSSEG planted conifers on sites along the stream to provide a source of large woody debris (LWD) recruitment in the future, and they placed LWD structures in areas lacking in stream cover. A local community organization, the Allyn Salmon Enhancement Group, performed spawner surveys to determine utilization above the new structure. The group received training through WDFW on how to perform surveys. The SPSSEG also worked with WDFW and the Squaxin Island Tribe to develop a comprehensive monitoring plan for at least five years that includes assessments of adult and juvenile utilization as well as habitat surveys of instream structures and riparian vegetation.