DESCRIPTION
Partner with landowners to restore habitat and water quality via native riparian and floodplain forest and estuarine revegetation & stewardship. Includes 3-5 years of site maintenance to ensure plant survival. This work will improve fish habitat in the Skagit River, the Sauk River, and Illabot Creek by restoring riparian and floodplain structure and function.
The Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) partnered with numerous landowners to address vegetation management needs on eight restored properties in the Skagit River basin with an aim to ensure the success of the previously revegetated riparian and floodplain areas by removing competing vegetation, controlling invasive species, and planting additional native trees and shrubs. All of the sites were within the Tier 1 target area identified in the Skagit Watershed Council's 2010 Strategic Approach. The initial projects were all successful at installing and initiating the spatial extent and structure needed to form habitat processes. However, additional maintenance was needed because the short time frames of original grants did not allow for full project success. Projects required additional maintenance to be successful. Additional effort strategically applied catalyzed site sustainability. This work improved fish habitat in the Skagit River and the Sauk River by restoring riparian and floodplain structure and function. All riparian stewardship sites benefited ESA-listed Chinook salmon and steelhead trout. This grant originally included two other worksites separated into another riparian stewardship grant with the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group (SFEG), #19-1786, for administrative efficiencies.
