The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Fisher Slough Tidal Marsh Restoration Project (Fisher Slough Project) is being monitored to document 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 a 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. There is a commitment to monitor the Fisher Slough Project through 2015.
All phases of the restoration construction were completed October 31, 2011. Planned and unplanned deviations to floodgate operation during established operational periods can happen in any water year and may result in some restoration target goals not being met, including water elevations, water temperature, or water dissolved oxygen levels. Data in this report are presented for the second after restoration construction was completed, regardless of any deviations.
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.
Henderson, R., Beamer, E. and Wolf, K., 2014. Fisher Slough Tidal Marsh Restoration 2013 Monitoring Report. Skagit River System Cooperative, La Conner, WA. pp. 178.
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