It could unleash the potential of Chico Creek. But clearing out the Highway 3 culvert and adding a 400-foot-long bridge will cost $55 million or more. Kitsap
BREMERTON — For 50 years, John Mikesell's backyard near Kitsap Lake has abutted Kitsap Creek, a vibrant local stream that fills each year with runs of salmon.
But one day in late August, the sounds of the creek stopped.
"All of a sudden, the creek was deathly quiet," Mikesell said. "It was completely dry."
It had happened only a few times Mikesell can remember in his time living on the Chico Creek tributary. But in other instances, the flow gradually slowed. This time, it was sudden.
"It was like somebody just turned it off," he said.
The result was a fish kill, including small salmon that he found lifeless below his home.
Mikesell turned to Jon Oleyar, a fisheries biologist with the Suquamish Tribe, to help. Oleyar traced the creek back to Kitsap Lake, where it begins. He found several berms and barriers in its way. He said that while it had been reduced to a trickle, it wasn't quite dry, and had gone "subsurface."
Oleyar conducted some rudimentary channeling of the creek, clearing some debris and vegetation. That seemed to do the trick. In a few hours, it was flowing past Mikesell's house again.
But the damage had been done, Mikesell said.
"What really upset me were the dead coho (salmon)," he said. "They're such a rarity up here."
The creek has at times flowed green because of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, in Kitsap Lake. "It looks like split-pea soup," Mikesell said. But the city has been working to clear the lake and remove phosphorus this summer to improve its water quality. There have been no changes to the water levels of the lake though, city officials said.
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Chance Berthiaume, the city's stormwater manager, said Kitsap Creek's culvert at Northlake Way has been identified for a project and remedies that would make creek flow, and fish passage, to occur more smoothly.
But it's still a puzzle why it dried up for a day in August. Oleyar said he's not exactly sure what happened. His theory was that it was a combination of things, including an August where there was little precipitation.
"It was a culmination of the perfect storm of summer conditions and obstacles, along with vegetation, that impeded the flow of the water that remained," he said.
Oleyar praised Mikesell for making the call to come help. "It takes vigilant homeowners," the fisheries biologist said.
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Meanwhile, just downstream from Mikesell's property, where Kitsap Creek flows into the bigger Chico Creek, work continues to take out a barrier to fish passage. The narrow 36-foot box culvert at Golf Club Hill Road is gone, replaced by a 140-foot bridge in a $4.4 million project between Kitsap County Public Works and the Suquamish Tribe. At present, while work continues to restore the creek, it is being piped around the new bridge.
The project should be completed in October.
There's more habitat restoration to come, too. The state is developing an estimated $55 million project that will install a 400-foot-long bridge on Highway 3 near the mouth of Chico Creek. There's also a $600,000 project on nearby Dickerson Creek that will remove logs, concrete and debris to help salmon passage.
Josh Farley is a reporter covering the military for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-9227, josh.farley@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter at @joshfarley.
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The Link LonkSeptember 03, 2020 at 03:24AM
https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2020/09/02/why-kitsap-creek-went-dry-and-how-biologis-got-flowing-again/5693889002/
Why Kitsap Creek went dry — and how a biologist helped get it flowing again - Kitsap Sun
https://news.google.com/search?q=dry&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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