Beamer, E., Henderson R. and Wolf, K., 2009. Lone Tree Creek and Pocket Estuary Restoration – Progress Report for 2004-2008 Fish Monitoring. Skagit River System Cooperative, La Conner, WA. pp. 11.

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The primary objective for the Lone Tree Creek and Lagoon Pocket Estuary project is to
increase the size and ecological capacity of the Lone Tree pocket estuary by restoring: (1)
tidal hydrology to the historic drowned channel part of the lagoon and (2) freshwater
hydrology and sediment dynamics (transport and deposition) in Lone Tree Creek. The
plan to restore tidal hydrology to the upper wetland of Lone Tree Lagoon was primarily
to remove an undersized, perched culvert and replace it with a bridge, thus increasing the
tidally influenced area of the lagoon (Figure 1). This restoration work was completed in
September 2006 by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and its partners, creating a
drowned channel estuary approximately 1246 square meters in size at mean high tide.
The drowned channel estuary is shown in Figure 2 as a dark pink polygon.
In the wetland area upstream of the culvert we hypothesized the following immediate
(i.e., within one year after the culvert is removed) responses to restoration:
Hypothesis 1 – Tidal prism will increase above the culvert.
Hypothesis 2 – Estuarine mixing above the culvert will increase.
Hypothesis 3 – The fish community above the culvert will change from a sparse-to-absent
freshwater community into a more abundant and diverse community dominated by
estuarine species.
This report describes results for monitoring sites upstream of the culvert for three years
prior to the restoration project being completed in September of 2006 (pre-project) and
two years of monitoring afterward (post-project).
This report was made possible through funding provided to Skagit River System
Cooperative from the Skagit Marine Resources Committee through the Swinomish Tribal
Community under an interlocal cooperative agreement between the Tribe and Skagit
County.

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Tags: 2009.