Here’s where Bellingham will spend $4.2 million to improve salmon habitat

Bellingham has awarded a contract to build an intertidal estuary at the mouth of Little Squalicum Creek and remove a culvert to let young salmon swim to sea and allow spawning adults to return.

Cost of the project is nearly $4.2 million for design and construction, with about $2.9 million from several state and federal grants and $1.2 million from the city, including money from stormwater fees paid by residents and from the Greenways levy.

“The goals are to restore juvenile salmon habitat and eliminate a fish barrier,” said Chad Schulhauser, assistant director of the Public Works Department’s engineering division.

City Council members unanimously approved a $3.74 million contract with Glacier Environmental of Mukilteo on Monday, May 9.

Construction will make this year’s “fish window,” when work is allowed in salmon streams, Schulhauser told the council at a committee meeting earlier Monday.

Little Squalicum Creek meanders toward Bellingham Bay from behind Bellingham Technical College and through Little Squalicum Park.

It empties into the bay near an abandoned industrial pier that the city recently bought for a walking and biking pathway.

Plans call for the restoration of 4.85 acres of coastal habitat, including a 2.4-acre estuary, and will remove a concrete culvert blocking fish passage at the mouth of Little Squalicum Creek, Public Works Director Eric Johnston said in a report.

“This project will restore tidal and sedimentary processes, improve fish passage, and return salt marsh, mudflat and estuary habitats to an area where historical wetlands have been lost,” Johnston said.

Trails in Little Squalicum Park will be shifted west to accommodate the estuary footprint and a new trail network will be installed along with a new pedestrian bridge at the estuary mouth, he said.

An open house on the project is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. May 25 in Building G at Bellingham Technical College, 3028 Lindbergh Ave.

This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 8:12 AM.

Robert Mittendorf

The Bellingham Herald

360-756-2805

Robert Mittendorf covers civic issues, weather, traffic and how people are coping with the high cost of housing for The Bellingham Herald. A journalist since 1984, he also served 22 years as a volunteer firefighter for South Whatcom Fire Authority before retiring in 2025.