Looks Good To Me

By Pilipo

Not Very Exciting?

It is if you know what it signifies and you care about about salmon habitat restoration. You'd be even more excited if you lived in a home subject to periodic flooding by Padden Creek.

Beneath this road, leading into Fairhaven from the freeway, Padden Creek flows through a 2,200ft/670m tunnel built in the 1890s. The tunnel blocks salmon access (see pages 7 & 8 in the link) to spawning habitat, and is too small to handle winter storm flows, resulting in periodic flooding. Efforts to open up or "daylight" the creek have been under way for years. Finally, the project has been designed, approved,and funded. It is expected to be completed in 2015.

The first phase is the construction of a bridge here, while traffic is temporarily diverted to one side of the highway and then the other. There's going to be much rejoicing when the tunnel is removed, the creek is returned to a natural state, and the first salmon swim freely past this point. You can be sure I'll be there.


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