Taylor Creek Mitigation Project

Project description

The Taylor Creek Mitigation Project will restore stream and wetland habitat within the lower reaches of Taylor Creek. The project will demolish all buildings, regrade stream and floodplain areas to emulate historic conditions and install large wood and native plants throughout the property. These actions will result in about ten acres of habitat improvement, five of which will be wetland or stream habitat. The project connects two previous King County restoration sites and will result in a 25 acre riparian corridor with high quality fish and wildlife habitat.

Background

Deforestation, stream channelization, and other land use activities have degraded stream and wetland habitat in the lower reaches of Taylor Creek. These changes have resulted in reduced quantity and quality of spawning and rearing habitat for Chinook, coho and sockeye salmon, steelhead, cutthroat trout and other fish and wildlife. This project is intended to restore stream and wetland habitat along Taylor Creek and to provide mitigation credits for King County’s Mitigation Reserves Program.

This project reach was identified as a high priority area for habitat restoration in the Cedar River Basin and Non-point Pollution Action Plan. Since that planning effort, several projects have been implemented in this reach to restore the stream and floodplain. This project ties two of those projects together and is consistent with and complimentary to them. This project is also consistent with the objectives of the WRIA 8 Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan, and while this project is not directly referenced in the WRIA 8 Plan, implementation will result in benefits for Chinook and coho salmon habitat.