DESCRIPTION
Seattle City Light (SCL) and the Skagit Land Trust (SLT) will continue their effective collaboration to protect high quality Chinook habitat in the Skagit River system through cooperative land acquisition. Following the 2017 Skagit Watershed Council protection strategy, the project will include acquisition of high priority parcels in Tier 1 floodplains of the mainstem Skagit, Sauk and Cascade rivers as well as habitat areas along major tributaries and creeks identified as Tier 2 in the Skagit Watershed Council's 2015 strategic approach. Three Tier 2 target areas from the Skagit Watershed's Council 2016 interim steelhead strategy are also included: single stock large river floodplain, singe stock major tributary and steel head target areas. This project helps to permanently protect priority habitat for listed ESU species. This project was funded by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) on September 16, 2020, as a $1,176,471 comprehensive acquisition, landowner outreach and restoration feasibility study grant for both the "middle" and "upper" Skagit River reaches (20-1326), administered by the Skagit Land Trust. For administration purposes, the project is split into two separate grant agreements. The Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration (PSAR) grant funds may be transferred between grants, if necessary.
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With the Seattle City Light portion of this grant, SCL purchased the Brown property, consisting of 5.3 acres along a slough near the confluence of the Skagit and Sauk Rivers, which contains over 0.32 miles of shoreline, providing critical rearing and refuge habitat for juvenile salmon, including Chinook. SCL also purchased a portion of the Hershaw property, with the purchased acres attributed to this grant of 3.28 acres (out of a total of 11.7 acres) and 0.3 miles of Skagit River shoreline, again protecting critical juvenile rearing habitat. SCL purchased the Merrill and Ring lots, of which 16.05 acres and 0.02 miles of Sauk shoreline were used as match to this grant. Overall, 24.6 acres and 0.64 miles of river shoreline were purchased and protected with this grant. All properties have intact riparian buffers that will be diversified and expanded with future restoration.