The Brian Abbott Fish Barrier Removal Board funded the project to remove the culvert that carries Chico Creek under Golf Club Hill Road in 2017. Kitsap County will remove the current culvert and replace it with a 140-foot span bridge. The SRFB funding request will complete the instream restoration work associated with the culvert removal. Specific project elements supported by SRFB include constructing engineered log jams in the stream, riparian planting, and weed control. The Chico Creek Salmon Park property was purchased with SRFB funding (05-1389) for the purpose of providing adequate floodplain habitat when the culvert was removed. Together with the restoration in the golf course reach downstream, this restoration upstream of the new bridge will provide long term stable spawning and rearing habitat in this important lower reach of mainstem Chico Creek. The new bridge opens more than 16 miles of habitat, including high quality lowland forests held in conservation protection status. Chico Creek is one of the most productive (wild) salmonid streams on the Kitsap Peninsula, and in all of WRIA 15, including Hood Canal. The culvert under Golf Club Hill Road was identified in the early 2000 's as a priority to remove or replace and planned for since then. Fish targeted to benefit from the project include chum, coho, Chinook, steelhead, and cutthroat trout.