Bellingham creek restoration enters new phase. Here’s what crews are doing in Happy Valley
As part of the ongoing restoration of Padden Creek, Bellingham officials are planning to work on a section from 30th to 24th streets in the Happy Valley neighborhood.
Craig Mueller, project engineer with the Department of Public Works, said that part of the stream, starting near the confluence with Connelly Creek, is “channelized” without bends or deep pools that favor native fish. The stream will be routed into a more natural pattern, Mueller told a City Council committee in a July 15 presentation.
“What this project will do is fill in a portion of the old channel and re-route the channel farther to the south, farther away from homes, creating pools, large woody debris, some invasives removal and riparian improvements through replanting,” Mueller said.
Planned restoration of Padden Creek is part of a series of projects the the city and the state have undertaken over the past decade or more, according to the city’s website and Bellingham Herald reporting:
▪ Building a bridge for the creek under Old Fairhaven Parkway in 2013. A footbridge was added in 2018.
▪ Padden Creek estuary restoration in 2014.
▪ “Daylighting” a half-mile of Padden Creek in 2015, an effort that returned the creek to its historic route after it was diverted into a tunnel in 1890 to build a railway line.
▪ Widening the creek’s route under Interstate 5 in 2021-22.
“This has been a channelized shot that couldn’t handle changes in the rain and did flood those people’s back yards. The ecological benefits are wonderful. The flood-control benefits are wonderful,” Councilman Michael Lilliquist said during committee discussion.
Padden Creek drains about 6 square miles of land in its 2.7-mile journey from Lake Padden to Bellingham Bay. Its headwaters are in the Chuckanut Mountains east of the lake.
The creek supports runs of chum and coho salmon, and sometimes Chinook salmon, steelhead trout and sea-run cutthroat trout, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Adding deep pools and fallen trees to the creek benefits native fish in several ways, Mueller said in a city-produced video about the project.
It gives fish a place to rest when they’re migrating, a place to hide from predators, and also a place to retreat to during low water periods,” Mueller said.
