Beamer, E.M., Henderson, R., Hood, G. and Wolf, K., 2013. Fisher Slough Tidal Marsh Restoration 2012 Monitoring Report. Skagit River System Cooperative, La Conner, WA. pp. 184.

The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Fisher Slough Tidal Marsh Restoration Project (Fisher Slough Project) is being monitored to document changing conditions in the original and restored freshwater tidal habitats following reintroduction of tidal hydrology and reconnection of stream floodplains on the site in order to evaluate success of restoration efforts. This monitoring report compares established baseline (pre-project) conditions with changing-project conditions, to test hypotheses derived from the project objectives.
Monitoring results should be used to guide adaptive management of the restoration project to achieve and maintain project goals over the long term. Consequently, any failures to meet project goals over the near term should not be viewed as project failures; rather they should be viewed as opportunities to learn from experience and make informed corrections that allow improved site management and project success over the long term. Furthermore, discovery of any near-term shortcomings in restoration results should highlight the need not only for adaptive management, but also for continued monitoring to inform management and ensure project success. When project monitoring ceases to provide any surprising results or demonstrate failures, and when the restoration project appears to have reached a dynamic equilibrium condition, then monitoring can be deemed no longer necessary.
All phases of the restoration construction are now complete (as of October 31, 2011). Planned and unplanned deviations to floodgate operation during established operational periods occurred in WY2012 and may have resulted in some restoration target goals not being met, including water elevations, water temperature, or water dissolved oxygen. Data in this report are presented for the first water year after restoration construction was completed, regardless of the deviations. In some sections of this report results are given for time periods when floodgate operation deviations occurred to show conditions that might be achieved if deviations to the floodgate operation had not taken place.
The Fisher Slough Project site is located in Skagit County, Washington, just south of the town of Conway, at the downstream end of the Carpenter Creek/Hill Ditch watershed and near the confluence of Steamboat Slough with Tom Moore Slough on the south fork of the Skagit River (Figure 1-1). Fisher Slough has been subjected to channelization and levee construction as part of flood control, irrigation and drainage, and agricultural development on the Skagit River delta for the past 150 years.