The city of Poulsbo now has a reasonable blueprint for restoring the South Fork of Dogfish Creek as money and volunteers become available. The city is the logical entity to lead the effort, considering that 90 percent of the 700-acre watershed lies within the city limits.
Reporter Brynn Grimley quotes Mayor Becky Erickson in Wednesday’s Kitsap Sun:
“The plan identifies the low-hanging fruit, the individual projects over time that don’t cost a lot of money and that really restore the creek… Over the next four to five years, we hope to find funding and fix these one piece at a time. The idea of salmon spawning throughout Poulsbo and what that means to our heritage, that’s a good thing.”
Kitsap Sun photo
The battle against pollution in Dogfish Creek has been going on for years under the leadership of the Kitsap County Health District. Much of the focus has been on septic systems and farming practices on the main stem of the creek, which flows down from the north through rural farmlands and housing developments, as well as the east and west forks of the stream.
What struck me about the plan for the South Fork is its clear focus on structure and function — in other words, looking at the needs of salmon. The South Fork Dogfish Creek Restoration Master Plan (PDF xx 8.8 mb) lists these objectives:
- Remove, repair, and replace barriers to fish migration.
- Restore/create off‐channel rearing and high‐flow refuge habitat.
- Increase instream habitat complexity (e.g., install large woody debris, create pools).
- Improve low‐flow water quality conditions (e.g., temperature and dissolved oxygen).
- Improve high‐flow water quality conditions (e.g., sediment and chemical pollutants in stormwater).
- Improve connection to the floodplain (i.e., restore natural planform and reduce channel incision).
- Restore riparian habitat (e.g., restore native plant species, increase interspersion of different plant communities).
- Restore connection to floodplain wetlands.
- Enforce existing regulations that protect stream ecology.
