The Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association Stream Stewards Program, supports six diverse watershed steward groups in Bellingham, Blaine and Ferndale. Watersheds include Schell Creek, Terrell Creek, California Creek, Squalicum Creek, Whatcom Creek, and Padden Creek.
These
volunteer citizen groups are actively involved in adopting and
restoring their streams. The program provides the building blocks for an
improved environment, new partnerships, and sustained healthy wild fish
production. Through
Stream Steward workshops, regular meetings, and accomplishment of
on-the ground stream restoration projects, participants are gaining the
tools and knowledge to work together to protect and restore streams in
our community.
A
basic premise of watershed stewardship is that we must learn two things
- that we live in a watershed, and that we understand how to live
within it. NSEA teaches specific methods of watershed protection and
on-the-ground streamside restoration and gives tools to community
members to successfully apply resources to solve problems in these local
watersheds.
NSEA
uses restoration of salmon habitat as the focus of all projects. Each
participant gets a notebook about their watershed and is encouraged to
become involved in long-term stewardship of their stream. This
program addresses priority actions promoting fish and wildlife
conservation and the habitats on which they depend. The five streams
chosen for the Stream Stewards Program have been devegetated,
channelized, and degraded by a century of agricultural, industrial, and
urban uses. Riparian areas are heavily infested with non-native &
invasive plants. Fish passage is compromised in many cases due to
culverts and poor riparian conditions.
Through
this program, riparian habitat for rearing and spawning salmonids in
five local streams is being improved by removing fish passage barriers,
removing invasive species, increasing shade, increasing plant diversity,
restoring habitat for native wildlife, and providing large woody
debris. Improving habitat for salmon also benefits other fish and
wildlife species.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife,
the Whatcom Community Foundation,and the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation provided start-up funding for the Streams Stewards program.
To learn more or to become involved in the Stream Stewards program, please contact: Rachel Vasak, NSEA Executive Director at 715-0283 x108 or rvasak@n-sea.org.
