Issaquah Creek Integrated Fish Passage Project

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Issaquah Creek Integrated Fish Passage Project – Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and City of Issaquah PROJECT DESCRIPTION: A 12-foot high diversion dam, built to supply water to the Issaquah Hatchery, was removed from Issaquah Creek and replaced with a series of 13 rock weirs to stabilize the channel and provide fish passage. A new fish-passable water intake for the hatchery was also constructed. MUKILTEO EVERETT

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C e C a t r g i i n B t a u e 99 J g REDMOND u KIRKLAND P SEATTLE n o Hatchery Dam 5 t g 405 n REDMOND i h s YARROW E a v before removal a HUNTS POINT n s W C PURPOSE/NEED: Built in the 1930’s with a small, POINT re e k 202

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i a HILL steep fish ladder, the Hatchery Dam severely restricted L m MEDINA a BELLEVUE m m SAMMAMISH a S fish passage to more than 11 miles of high quality salmon 90 e

a PROJECT habitat. It also caused direct salmon mortality as fish were 90 L

eek Cr h ua BELLEVUE aq Iss k SITE r Fo MERCER 405 N stranded during low flows. The dam, which was also ISLAND

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the 2005 Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan for the Lake RENTON I

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Removal was widely endorsed by local, state and federal 18 officials, agencies, and tribes.

River ar ed WRIA 8 BOUNDARY C INTENDED OUTCOME: The dam was deconstructed (Water Resource and replaced with a fish-friendly series of weirs, allowing Inventory Area) KENT salmon access to upstream habitat. To further improve habitat, the project added streamside plants, placed large woody debris in the stream, and improved fish passage of the WDFW hatcheries, with thousands of visitors each on the adjacent Cabin Creek tributary that enters the site. year—especially during October’s Issaquah Salmon Days. Streamside plantings will continue for several years, with STATUS: The project was constructed in 2013. help from Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, the City’s Re-establishing plants and monitoring is ongoing with help partner in many habitat restoration projects. from Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust. A new gravity water intake structure was built to provide water to the hatchery for years to come. Its innovative FUNDING/PARTNERS:The Washington State Salmon and low-maintenance design allows unobstructed flow, Recovery Funding Board (through WRIA 8) in 2008 eliminating the fish passage problem. awarded a grant to the City of Issaquah, in partnership with The Issaquah Salmon Hatchery is an important production WDFW, for a feasibility study to evaluate dam removal facility for tribal and sport fisheries and is the most visited options. In 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

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1 Issaquah Creek Integrated Fish Passage Project – Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and City of Issaquah

Administration’s Open Rivers Initiative provided a grant FOR MORE INFORMATION: Kerry Ritland, City of to design the chosen alternative. The State of Washington Issaquah, [email protected], Tim Ward, WDFW, Jobs Now Act allocated $4 million for construction in 2012, [email protected] or visit www.issaquahwa.gov/ which was completed in 2013 under WDFW direction. index.aspx?nid=1158 COST: $4.8 million (feasibility, design, permitting and construction)

The old dam is deconstructed. Heavy equipment is used to build new rock weirs.

This aerial view of the completed project with water in the channel shows the weirs in action.

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