Stillaguamish Basin: Reducing Risk, Restoring Rivers
Throughout the winter and spring of 2020, the SLS ITs were busy compiling projects into two comprehensive packages (one for the Snohomish and one for the Stillaguamish) to submit to Floodplains by Design (FbD) for the 2021-2023 biennium. After months of brainstorming, engaging the community, and collaborative project development aimed to generate wins for farm, fish, and flood interests, the ITs finally submitted the final FbD packages in July 2020.
The Stillaguamish FbD package ranked 13th overall on the funding list and will be fully funded if the program receives almost $76 million. Governor Inslee has proposed funding FbD at $70 million. That level of funding would partially cover the Stillaguamish package.
Examples of projects in the Stillaguamish FbD Package
The large projects in the package include:
Improve drainage and drainage infrastructure by replacing undersized culverts and malfunctioning tide gates in the Stillaguamish Flood Control District and Drainage District 7 in Stanwood, WA.
Design restoration actions to restore floodplain processes in the Trafton reach of the North Fork Stillaguamish River. The restoration work will likely entail removing a mile of levee, digging channels to spread the NF’s energy and sediment across the floodplain, installing thousands of pieces of wood to improve instream habitat, reforestation, and encouraging beaver to build habitat and impound water once again in this area.
Aid in the enhancement of The Nature Conservancy’s Port Susan Bay estuary restoration project at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River. This project will restore key ecological processes to 150 acres of estuarine tidal marsh through distributary channel excavation, blind channel excavation, and removal of remnant dike material that currently inhibits freshwater input.
Continue onto Phase 2 of the Irvine Slough project, including stormwater/wastewater treatment improvements for the City of Stanwood. These improvements will will improve the water quality in the lower river and Stillaguamish estuary, provide healthier habitat for Chinook salmon, and increase non-motorized water recreation in the area.
Additional projects in the package include floodplain property acquisition, agricultural conservation easement acquisitions from the estuary up-river to the City of Arlington, a saltwater intrusion study based on Florence Island and Drainage District 7, implementation of drought resilience practices, continued funding to support the project collaboration, and other farm, fish, and flood initiatives.
What you can do to advocate your support for the Stillaguamish FbD package?
Print or download the project fact sheet from the Stillaguamish (see below). This is a great starting point to talk to legislators with.
Meet with your senator and representatives. To request a meeting, simply send them an email (and cc their Legislative Assistant [LA], who can often help with scheduling). Contact information for all members and their LAs is here.
In your meeting, the key thing to ask your legislators is for them to please communicate to their chamber’s capital budget leadership (that’s Senator Frockt for the Senate or Representative Tharinger for the House) that Floodplains by Design is important for your district, and to ask them to include $76 million for it in their capital budget that would fully fund the Stillaguamish Package.
Gather any questions or feedback your reps might have about FbD, the budget, and/or your project – and if you don’t have the answer to those questions, reach out to TNC’s state Governmental Relations Director- Justin Allegro justin.allegro@TNC.ORG
Help get the word out on Social Media. Here are some handy Social Media tools from the new Social Media Toolkit
