Sammamish River Off-Channel Habitat Restoration

Habitat restoration celebration

The City hosted a celebration of the first year of the Sammamish River Off-Channel restoration project. Enjoy some highlights in this brief video.

Juvenile salmon return to lower Sammamish River's new off-channel habitat

In 2018, the landscaping crew completed restoring the project site with native plants. The City reminds trail users that the site is a habitat restoration project, not a recreation area. As such, users should remain on the trail and not disturb the area.     

Samm River Side Channel 2
  1. Description & Goals
  2. Impacts
  3. Funding

Project description


This project reconnected and restored 1,100 feet of an old remnant channel and floodplain of the Sammamish River.

Goals

Project goals included restoring floodplain and channel connectivity and function through:
 
  • Restoring about 8 acres of floodplain plant community diversity and structure with native plantings and removal of invasive plant species;
  • Establishing open water reconnection to the new channel at both ends to the Sammamish River. The new off-channel habitat is now accessible for salmonids. This is expected to benefit juvenile Chinook and Coho salmon as well as other species of fish, amphibians and wildlife.