In October, GPC acquired a 13-acre shoreline property along the Hood Canal in Seabeck, WA, with the long-term goal of restoring a historic pocket estuary and salt marsh habitat for resident and migratory species. The property includes 530’ of shoreline, freshwater springs, and 400’ of a local creek as it empties into the nearshore, creating a transition area, with fresh and salt water mixing, where land and sea meet.
One of the highlights of the project is the protection of eelgrass beds and shallow tidelands – vital habitat for forage fish (a.k.a. prey fish and bait fish), juvenile salmon, coastal-dependent birds, migratory birds, and a variety of other species. Eelgrass beds provide rich feeding grounds, protection from predators, and nursery habitat, along with other important ecological functions, including shoreline stabilization and carbon sequestration.
While the project site’s shoreline and tidelands already provide excellent habitat for juvenile salmon, restoration of the historic pocket estuary in future phases will add rare and critical estuarine salt marsh habitat. Two notable species expected to benefit from the project are Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed Puget Sound chinook salmon and ESA listed Hood Canal summer chum (fun fact – thanks to projects like this, Hood Canal summer chum are making a remarkable comeback!), which spawn in nearby streams. With these habitat improvements, juvenile salmon in the Hood Canal will have another safe space to grow, feed, and adapt to the marine environment at a critical resting point as they migrate past the Naval Base and into deeper waters.
The first phase of restoration will begin in 2025, with the removal of several aging and unsafe structures. This will occur following a cultural resources assessment and should be completed within the year allowing future public access to the Hood Canal shoreline. Full restoration will take several years of grant writing and complex project management, so while the protection of this ecologically valuable property is very exciting, there is much work to come.
The acquisition will build upon other GPC protected lands along the Hood Canal, such as Big Beef Creek Salmon Sanctuary, Little Anderson Creek Preserve, and Misery Point Preserve. We are thankful to our many partners and sponsors in their efforts to support salmon habitat in Hood Canal, including the Washington Department of Natural Resources, Hood Canal Coordinating Council, and Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group.
The project was made possible thanks to funding from the Recreation and Conservation Office’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board’s Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration Fund, the National Coastal Wetlands program through the Washington State Department of Ecology and U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Navy’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program, and donations through the Hood Canal Environmental Council and Kitsap Audubon Society.