Nookachamps Creek is located on the lower Skagit River upstream of the town of Mount Vernon and is one of the largest tributaries of the Skagit River. Nookachamps Creek is the first important salmon-producing tributary of the Skagit River. Coho, chum, chinook, and pink salmon, steelhead trout, a small run of sockeye salmon, and sea run cutthroat trout all inhabit reaches of the basin. Resident rainbow trout and cutthroat trout are also present. Historically, the Nookachamps was recognized nationwide for its cutthroat sport fishing, but numbers have significantly diminished. Other wildlife using the aquatic and riparian areas includes trumpeter and tundra swans, Canada and snow geese, bald eagles, osprey, beaver, muskrat, mink and otter.

In 1988, Skagit County ranked the Nookachamps watershed its number one priority for protection and cleanup from nonpoint pollution. In 1995 Washington Department of Ecology approved a Watershed Action Plan for the Nookachamps, making it the first river system in the county to have such a plan in place. Water quality data collected while developing the plan showed elevated temperatures caused by removal of riparian vegetation, low dissolved oxygen from heavy nutrient loading, and high fecal coliform levels from animal waste to be significant limiting factors. Salmon habitat in the Nookachamps watershed is highly vulnerable to degradation due to current and changing land uses and development. The floodplain of the creek is impacted by grazing and human caused barriers to fish passage, while the forested hillsides of the drainage are being rapidly converted from forestry lands to residential uses. Degradation of habitat has already resulted in high stream temperatures in portions of the watershed, as documented in Washington Department of Ecology's Draft Temperature TMDL for the Lower Skagit River Tributaries (May 2003). Fifteen factors affecting stream temperature were identified in the DOE report. Few of these factors can be influenced by humans; namely channel width, depth and velocity and riparian vegetation. All activities were designed to help with the implementation phase of the Watershed Action Plan by reducing nonpoint pollution, increasing shade to streams, and benefiting populations of fish and wildlife.

Activities specifically included in this project to address temperature reduction included: project site inventory, planting streamside vegetation, livestock fencing, altering channel geometry using large woody debris (LWD), and public outreach and education. There are five locations at which Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group (SFEG) completed these actions.

Sites:

DeVries Dairy Site: which is located on the lower mainstem of Nookachamps Creek near Francis Road and extending 1.5 miles upstream.

Murray's Tributary Site: a tributary to the Nookachamps.

Tewalt's WRP Property Site: on Turner Creek, which is a Tributary to the Nookachamps.

Verdoes Reach Site: floodplain along the East Fork of the Nookachamps downstream of Hwy 9 off of Babcock Road. (please see HWS Nookchamps Creek Riparian -Verdoes Site Restoration)

Clear Valley:on the West Fork Nookachamps on 10 acres downstream of "Big Rock" in Mount Vernon.