SEQUIM — About 19,000 trees and shrubs have been planted in the Sequim area as part of two projects aimed at reducing flooding while improving fish and wildlife habitat.
A little more than half of the plantings took place on about 30 acres along the Dungeness River near Towne Road north of Sequim.
The other project is on 15 acres at Jimmycomelately Creek in Blyn, where workers planted 8,000 trees and shrubs and a field of lilies and camas.
“This is a great project,” said Byron Rot, habitat biologist for the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe.
“Adding healthy vegetation near and along these important streams is a big step toward creating healthy habitat for fish and other wildlife in the Sequim area.”
The work is not over. Another 7,000 plants are scheduled to be put in the ground near the Dungeness River this fall, and work this summer at Jimmycomelately Creek includes the removal of fill to create a salt marsh and an extension of the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Dungeness and the dike
The plantings are only a part of what could be done on this section of the Dungeness River, said Hansi Hals, restoration planner for the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe.
Several agencies are also in the “very preliminary” stages of discussing whether to move back a dike that keeps the river away from neighboring land, she said.
“The flood plain was changed to agricultural use and the dike protected that agricultural land,” Hals said.
“But it also decreased the quality of the agricultural land. By having the river hemmed it the way it is, the water is seeping underground and that land is wetter than it was historically.”
