Removing Obstacles to Fish on Camano’s Kristoferson Creek

https://www.islandcountywa.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?aid=105

For Immediate Release

August 2, 2024

Work begins to clear final obstacles to fish in Camano Island’s Kristoferson Creek 

On July 15, Island County Public Works began removing the final barriers to fish passage on Kristoferson Creek, clearing the way for adult salmon to reach the sea and providing non-natal rearing habitat for juvenile salmon. 

The project is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 16.

Young Chinook salmon and steelhead from the Skagit and Stillaguamish rivers use Kristoferson Creek for several months before migrating to the ocean. The creek has been used by chum and coho for spawning, according to Island County Public Health Natural Resource Specialist Clea Barenburg.

Public Works is replacing plastic culverts under East Camano Drive on Camano Island with modern 14-foot-wide concrete box culverts. The replacement project is located between Can Ku and Shumway roads. 

The fish passage restoration project will connect to an earlier project lower in Kristoferson Creek that was previously improved. In 2018, two partial barriers to fish passage were replaced at locations within the first 500 feet of Kristoferson Creek where the creek flows into Triangle Cove. 

The old lower culvert replacement at Barnum Road consisted of four undersized round concrete culverts that lay side by side and were installed at uneven elevations. The Russell Road crossing consisted of a single four-foot round steel pipe. These first projects were built based upon a feasibility design study conducted in 2008 by Adopt-a-Stream Foundation assessing crossings and fish passage improvement opportunities on Kristoferson Creek. 

All the projects were reviewed and ranked for funding by the Salmon Technical and Citizens Committee.

Island County Public Works is using grant funding for construction of a barrier correction under N East Camano Drive this summer. This project will replace the two undersized Island County culverts. This will improve access for adult and juvenile salmon and trout species to Kristoferson Creek Basin, including excellent wetland rearing habitat above N. East Camano Drive. 

Work to restore and protect Kristoferson Creek began nearly 20 years ago. In early 2006, the Board of Island County Commissioners granted a Whidbey Camano Land Trust request for $125,000 in Conservation Futures Funds to permanently protect 2.5 acres and nearly 255 feet of the lower reach of the creek. 

This summer’s barrier removal culvert replacement, in combination with the two barriers which were recently replaced downstream using salmon recovery funding, complete a decades-long watershed improvement for our local habitat.

The habitat found in Kristoferson Creek is seen as especially critical for juvenile Chinook salmon because the estuaries of their natal watersheds are heavily degraded. 

• For more information, contact Clea Barenburg at C.Barenburg@islandcountywa.gov or 360-678-7267.

The new culvert (above) will allow fish to reach the sea more easily and provide non-natal rearing habitat for juvenile salmon.