DESCRIPTION
The Puget Sound Steelhead East Kitsap DIP Recovery Plan (Suquamish Tribe 2020) speaks to the freshwater environments needed to support federally listed Puget Sound Steelhead and other salmonids and resident fish and that fish passage barriers are one of the highest priorities to address in the recovery of steelhead. Springbrook Creek is federally designated as critical habitat for ESA federally listed threatened Puget Sound Steelhead. With the creation of the steelhead plan, the identification of pressures, stressors and strategies for species recovery in the fresh water environment are identified. The plan indicates that Springbrook Creek has by far the greatest intrinsic potential for steelhead in the Bainbridge Island Watershed, as well as the most stream miles that currently support spawning, rearing, and migrating steelhead. Appendix C (Implementation Strategy) identifies this project (5.3.1) as an opportunity to remove a fish passage barrier for fish passage and longitudinal connectivity. The Springbrook Creek Watershed Assessment (SCWA) (SRFB Project # 14-1517) is a Near Term Action in Puget Sound Partnerships Action Agenda and identified this project as the #1 top priority for restoration in the watershed. In 2019 and 2021, Wild Fish Conservancy detected O. mykiss through eDNA in proximity of the project location.
Mid-Puget Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group proposes to complete final designs to replace the Fletcher Bay Rd NE culvert on Springbrook Creek with a bridge and restore approximately 400' of stream channel (including the section of creek that is currently confined within the culvert). The project is located on Bainbridge Island. The crossing under Fletcher Bay Road NE is a partial fish barrier that includes a series of concrete weirs and bank armoring upstream and downstream of the culvert, and an undersized (5 ft. wide x 100 ft. long) steel culvert. Restoration of fish passage and in-stream habitat conditions at this location is the highest-priority restoration project in the watershed. Conceptual designs for the culvert replacement and stream restoration were developed by Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) as part of the Springbrook Creek Watershed Assessment (2018). Preliminary and final designs are currently being developed using SRFB funding from 21-1058, in coordination with a partner advisory team. The goal of the project is to restore fish passage and in-stream habitat conditions low in the Springbrook Creek watershed to benefit salmonid populations and improve the capacity of the stream to accommodate hydrologic changes associated with climate change. The project supports ESA threatened Puget Sound steelhead, coho, chum, and cutthroat trout, and may also benefit non-natal juvenile Chinook salmon rearing in Fletcher Bay. This project is a cost increase to 21-1058.
