PHOTOS COURTESY OF NORTHWEST INDIAN FISHERIES COMMISSION

The 17-acre Sha Dadx site was excavated and will be connected with the Puyallup River to create a habitat for juvenile salmon to develop before heading out to salt water. The project is nearing completion.

Project to make space for young salmon

By Meghan Erkkinen

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is nearing completion on a restoration project in Fife, one of its largest projects to date on the lower Puyallup River.

The Sha Dadx project, located at Frank Albert and Levee roads and adjacent to the Radiance housing development, will restore a 17-acre oxbow that was segregated from the river in the early 1900s.

The site, now a disconnected wetland, will be shaped into a web of waterways for juvenile salmon to osmoregulate – or transition from fresh to salt water – before heading out to Commencement Bay. The site will also include an open area with a larger pool. It will be reconnected to the Puyallup River by a 10-foot-tall culvert under Levee Road.

“What we wanted to do is take advantage of the natural habitat,” said Bill Sullivan, director of the tribe’s natural/environmental resources department. “The more complexity you have in a site, the more diversity you have…The more diverse your site is, the better it mimics a natural condition.”

Sullivan and his team will be planting myriad native plants. They will also be keeping all the trees they cut down and replacing them in the wetland as woody debris, to act as a canopy over the water to keep the habitat cool for the young salmon.

This project has been 10 years in the making, according to Sullivan. Back in 1999, he and Russ Ladley, an environmental biologist for the tribe, stated their vision to restore Sha Dadx.

“It’s kind of the crown jewel” of the tribe’s restoration projects, Sullivan said, and it is also probably one of the tribe’s last on the lower Puyallup River.

“On the lower river, we’re pretty well hammered (with projects). It’s developed,” he said. “We’re just trying to put the pieces together in a river that was pretty well compromised.”

The city of Fife has been working with the tribe to ensure that the project is safe for area residents. To make sure the project included protections against flooding along the Puyallup River, it includes its own levee, which surrounds the wetland area. A tide gate is also being installed to close the culvert off from the river in cases of extreme flooding events.

“We wanted it done in such a way that it would not degrade the flood protections we have in place,” said Fife City Manager Steve Worthington. “We’re continuing to work with the tribe and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to fine-tune some of the details.”

Worthington added that the project would benefit the city.

“We think the project is a great environmental enhancement, we think it’s going to be great for the overall community,” he said. “It certainly benefits the habitat overall, returning it a little closer to what nature intended for salmon and fish habitat, and I think that’s a benefit to everyone.”

The project will be mostly completed within the next week.

“We’re hoping that the project will be open and available for the juvenile salmon this spring,” Sullivan said. “All you have to do is build it and the fish find it in a heart beat,” Sullivan said. “There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll see juveniles there.”

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