This phase of the project will implement the overall project to restore Titlow Lagoon to a connected and productive estuary. Construction efforts include:

1. Replacement of the culvert/tidegate through BNSF railroad with a 86-foot-span rail bridge to improve connectivity and fish passage between Titlow Lagoon and Puget Sound.

2. Removal of a 50-meter pool and parking lot infastructure on the footprint of the historic Lagoon/saltwater wetland
3. Expansion of the exisiting lagoon and installation of woody habtiat structure
4. Removal of invasive plants species and restoration of riparian and salt marsh habitat
5. Removal of a house, sea wall, and rip rap bulkhead


Historically the Titlow pocket estuary was relatively large (> 5.5 acres), with extensive marsh and forested wetland habitat (> 25 acres please see Attachment G). Currently the outlet to the pocket estuary is impounded by the BNSF railroad grade, and a tide gate controls tidal flow. The now brackish northern portion of the pocket estuary was separated from the main pocket estuary with a dike. A tide gate and fill was added to intertidal areas around the south and eastern sides of the pocket estuary, so the total acreage has been reduced from its historic size. Much of the historic marsh has been filled, and the pocket estuary shoreline has had much of the native vegetation removed to allow public access to the pocket estuary.

Restoration actions at Titlow Lagoon will address both the ecological and the social aspects of broader Puget Sound restoration efforts in a coordinated, highly visible and biologically beneficial project.