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Padden Creek Restoration

Map showing proposed channel re-alignment for Padden Creek.
Geologist mapping the Padden Creek channel using GPS technology.
Biologists analyzing soil as part of a wetland delineation.
High flows on Padden Creek have caused erosion, increasing sediment and degrading salmon habitat.
Grading plan for the proposed Padden Creek channel restoration.

Statistics

Client: City of Bellingham
Location: Bellingham, WA
Dates: 2008-2010
Services: Stream restoration design, permitting

Description

A degraded section of Padden Creek in Bellingham will be realigned into a new 2,300-foot meandering channel with a broadened floodplain and added woody debris, pools and native vegetation. The goals of the project include improving buffer and floodplain habitat and function by creating larger, more biologically diverse stream floodplain and buffers. A multidisciplinary team from The Watershed Company is currently finishing final design and construction documents, ESA consultation and permitting.

The main stream channel will be relocated away from private properties to the north, and into the center of City-owned open-space property adjacent. This project will create new habitat and enhance existing habitat for salmonid fish and other wildlife, reduce bank erosion and associated deposition and turbidity, and reduce flooding potential on neighboring properties.