Use of Vegetation and Natural Materials
Skagit River Rehabilitation of Flood Control Works Skagit County, Washington, United States
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Seattle District (NWS) completed a combined total of 60 emergency levee repairs in 2007 and in 2011 on the lower Skagit River. Habitat features that could function as riverine edge habitat were incorporated with the repairs; the riverine edge habitat had been lost over the years as a result of numerous riverbank modifications within the lower Skagit River Valley. Thirteen levee repair sites with mitigation features were subsequently studied to evaluate whether they sufficiently compensated for the loss of habitat functions—specifically those functions impacting juvenile salmon—in terms of meeting project goals. Overall, most features examined in 2017 were functioning as planned, providing rearing and refuge habitat as well as foraging opportunities; the features also improved the riparian corridor.
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