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Pond Information

Information regarding the sale of land needed for Salmon Habitat adjacent to Puget Creek. This sale would be a dire set-back to the restoration of salmon runs in Puget Creek.

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Puget Creek Restoration Society
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74 views

Pond Information

Information regarding the sale of land needed for Salmon Habitat adjacent to Puget Creek. This sale would be a dire set-back to the restoration of salmon runs in Puget Creek.

Uploaded by

Puget Creek Restoration Society
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Puget Creek Restoration Society Regarding the Sale of Salmon Habitat


Parcel #8945003271
Address: 3515 N Alder Way, Tacoma, WA 98407 (47.280042, -122.478188) Map attached
Size: 0.09 Acres (3,999 Sq Ft)
2014 Assessed Value: $1,800
Issue
Up for sale is a small parcel of property that is needed for salmon habitat in Puget Creek.
The present homeowners living next to this parcel, Mr. and Mrs. Costello, would like to
purchase it to extend access to their house with a driveway. Currently, there is a concrete
sports court that was illegally built on a portion of this parcel by a past homeowner, and a
fence surrounding it. The Puget Creek Restoration Society (PCRS) has spent many years of
efforts and resources to restore the Puget Creek Natural Area and bring back the native
salmon runs to the stream. PCRS has been working towards building an off-channel salmon
pond at that location to fulfill a missing component of the salmon habitat in Puget Creek.
The sale of this property would be an irreparable setback to the salmon habitat of Puget
Creek in a time when good salmon habitat is in dire need.
About PCRS
Our mission at the Puget Creek Restoration Society is to protect, enhance, and
restore the Puget Creek Natural Area and similar streams, wetlands, and green
spaces. We promote stewardship throughout Pierce County and invite the
communitys participation through hands-on restoration, research, advocacy, and
education.
Our organization represents over 3,000 volunteers and members in Pierce County
who are deeply concerned with preserving our green spaces and combating the issues
that face our environment.
Puget Creek is one of only three salmon-bearing streams within the City of Tacoma
and is surrounded by the rich environment of the Puget Gulch. It has been listed
with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as a salmonid bearing stream
since 2003.
Since we were established as a non-profit organization in 2000, we have restored 16
of the 66 acres of the Puget Creek Natural Area by removing invasive species,
planting native vegetation, and monitoring the health of the areas plants and wildlife.
o We have restored 90% of the riparian area along the stream and it is
functioning well.
Puget Creek falls under Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 12
(http://www.ecy.wa.gov/apps/watersheds/wriapages/12.html)
History
In 1994, the Puyallup Tribal Fisheries did an assessment of Puget Creek in regards to
its salmon habitat.
o They found that there was not sufficient off-channel pond development in
the system.
o This is a limiting factor for Coho Salmon development.

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o The WRIA 12 Limiting Factors Analyses, June 2012 lists off-channel habitat as
an important missing component in WRIA 12 streams.
o The WRIA 10/12 Habitat Protection and Restoration Strategy, March 2012 also
states that off-channel habitat is greatly needed in this system.
o The Puget Creek Natural Area Management Plan, developed in part with Metro
Parks, addresses the need to restore salmon habitat to benefit these species in
Puget Creek.
There is currently an off-channel pond that connects to Puget Creek about halfway
through, but it is not large enough to support salmon in a system the size of Puget
Creek.
The parcel of land is located alongside the open section of Puget Creek, after the fish
ladder and before it travels through the culvert under Ruston Way.
The parcel was originally owned by Tacoma Public Utilities, but was transferred to
the City of Tacoma to be managed by Real Property Services in 2005.
At the time of this transfer, its intended use was for salmon habitat, noted through
emails and verbal communication.
The property owners at the house next to the parcel have a history of poor
environmental stewardship, by adding sand to the creek and spraying defoliants on
the bushes surrounding their yard.
The City of Tacoma is in the process of trying to sell the parcel to them to extend
their driveway.
Additional concrete would only increase the amount of (potentially) polluted runoff
that would flow into Puget Creek, further degrading the habitat and water quality of
the area

PCRS Pond Project


PCRS wishes for the City of Tacoma to retain the property as salmon habitat for us
to build an off-channel pond.
A pond may help the loss of nearshore/estuarine habitat that the area experienced in
the past.
The architecture and design firm, AHBL, have already completed the preliminary
designs of the pond (attached).
The pond would serve as overwintering habitat for the Coho Salmon, who typically
stay in their birth streams for up to a year after they hatch from eggs.
o They need deep, off-channel habitat to rear and forage in before they get
large enough to transition to the saltwater environment.
The location of the pond may allow for an influx of saltwater from underground, in
which case it would be able to function as an acclimation for out-migrating juvenile
salmonids and in-coming adults.
The pond would be fenced off to protect from any liabilities on the citys land.
An observation platform would be included for education, tours, and monitoring the
salmon.
Goals
Diversity the habitat of the watershed by building an off-channel pond connected to
Puget Creek.

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Enhance the riparian zone surrounding the off-channel pond and allow for more
runoff filtration.
Provide an area for student and community education to view and learn about
salmon and urban streams.
Ultimate goal Restore self-sustaining, annual Coho Salmon runs to Puget
Creek

Concerns
The Sale of the Property. This would take the only area of land suitable for this
pond and turn it into a driveway.
Securing Funding. Many granting agencies choose to fund other salmon projects
that help priority stocks that were previously identified. The estimated costs for the
entire pond project is about $300,000.
Working with the BNSF railroad to lease a portion of the parcel to make the pond
the necessary size that the City of Tacoma asked for. We have been in
communication with them to lease the property, but there is a $600+ application fee
to move forward with the process, and without funding, we have been unable to
move forward. The catch-22 lies in the fact that many granting agencies are
unwilling to fund the project without a portion of that land leased.
Further Action
We ask that you take the time to write to your council members, neighborhood
councils, and planning commission to oppose the sale of salmon habitat at Puget
Creek.
Salmon in the Pacific Northwest dont need more of their habitat paved over with
concrete.
For More Information, Contact Scott Hansen at the Puget Creek Restoration Society:
(253)779-8890 or [email protected]

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Tacoma City Council Members


http://www.cityoftacoma.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=10945
Anders Ibsen [email protected]
Robert Thoms [email protected]
Lauren Walker [email protected]
Marty Campbell [email protected]
Joe Lonergan [email protected]
Deputy Mayor Victoria Woodards [email protected]
David Boe [email protected]
Ryan Mello [email protected]

Neighborhood Councils

http://cms.cityoftacoma.org/cedd/neighborhood-councilprogram/program_documents/2014_meeting_times_and_locations.pdf
Central Neighborhood Council
First Thursday of the month at 7 p.m.
Tacoma Nature Center South 19th and Tyler Street
Eastside Neighborhood Council (ENACT)
Third Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m.
Stewart Height Park Building 402 East 56th at Railroad Crossing
New Tacoma Neighborhood Council
Second Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m.
First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall
621 Tacoma Avenue South (enter in the back off of South 7th)
Northeast Neighborhood Council
Third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m.
Sector 1 NE Substation 4731 Norpoint Way NE
North End Neighborhood Council
First Monday of the month at 6 p.m.
University of Puget Sound: Thompson Hall 15th and Union / Room 193
South End Neighborhood Council
Third Monday of the month at 7 p.m. Fire Station #8
South Tacoma Neighborhood Council

4911 South Alaska Street

Third Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. S.T.A.R. Center 3873 South 66th Street
West End Neighborhood Council
Third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. Fire Station #16 7217 Sixth Avenue
Community Council of Tacoma
4th Thursday of each month at 6 p.m.
Tacoma Municipal Building TMBN 16 (Study Session Room)

City of Tacoma Planning Commission

Liaison Lihuang Wung [email protected]

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