Salmon, Streams and Stormwater are Compatible in Eatonville, Washington State
Acknowledgement:
The story below is reproduced from an article published in the Eatonville Dispatch newspaper. Eatonville is a town in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,758 at the 2010 census. For years Eatonville was a waypoint for visitors to Mount Rainier.
Nisqually Tribe and Town of Eatonville Collaborate to Mitigate Runoff Impacts in Pierce County
“The town of Eatonville in Washington State, with financial backing from the Nisqually Indian Tribe, has a new and improved stormwater management plan that officials say will 
reduce pollution and protect salmon in nearby rivers,” wrote Pat Jenkins, Editor of the Eatonville Dispatch, in an article written in March 2014.
“The Nisqually Tribe funded the update as part of a broader project to protect salmon habitat by managing the stormwater that flows out of the town and finds its way into salmon-bearing streams.”
Plan Will Achieve Multiple Objectives
“Tribe and town officials said the ability of salmon to thrive in the surrounding watershed will depend largely on how Eatonville grows and the way runoff from the municipality is managed.”
“In addition to hurting salmon, flooding has harmed homeowners around the city,” said town administrator Doug Beagle. “Hopefully, this plan will show us how to not only prevent property damage, but clean up local streams and protect salmon, he added.”
“The plan also can protect town residents and property owners from increases in runoff and damage such as erosion.”
“The tribe hopes to foster what it calls creative solutions such as rain gardens, which have already been installed in several locations allow water to move more naturally as it makes its way to the river. The landscaping and vegetation of rain gardens replace impervious hard surfaces such as blacktop, letting water slowly seep into the ground.”
“Beagle said the plan also focuses on the use of bio-retention areas and pervious concrete in new development.”
The Challenge is to Manage Growth
“Growth is going to happen in the rural Nisqually watershed” in the same way it has mushroomed throughout the Puget Sound region, Troutt said. The key, he added, is to manage growth so it doesn’t reduce salmon habitat and harm water quality.”
“Poor stormwater management leads to high flows in the winter and lowflows in the summer. Officials said the Mashel River already is too low and too warm for fish as it passes through Eatonville.”
“We’d like to change the way water flows, so it seeps slowly into the ground instead of quickly running off into the stream,” Troutt said.
“He said low flows in the Mashel occur during spawning times for adult chinook salmon, which need cool, deep pools to rest in as they swim upriver.”
“Younger chinook, coho and steelhead also depend on ample water during the summer because they over-winter for an extra year in freshwater before migrating out to sea. Nisqually River chinook and steelhead are listed as ‘threatened’ under the federal Endangered Species Act.”
“The tribe and other local organizations have restored salmon habitat in the Mashel and Ohop Creek, where monitoring has revealed that salmon ‘use the habitat we’ve worked so hard to restore,’ Troutt said. ‘By working closely with the local community, we hopefully can add to the gains we have made through restoration’, Troutt concluded.”
