Award for Chinook Marsh Restoration
Agency
Ecology, Department of
Title of action
Award for Chinook Marsh Restoration
Date significant agency action was initiated
Monday, December 30, 2024
Category
Capital project, grant, or loan award of at least $12 million
Brief description of significant agency actions for which the agency is initiating an environmental justice assessment.
The purpose of this action is to provide $16.7 million to Snohomish County to implement the Chinook Marsh restoration project, which will complete a tidal reconnection project in the Snohomish River estuary. This award is part of the NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge (CRRC), for which the Washington Department of Ecology was awarded $73.5 million dollars to pass through in order to advance a portfolio of collaboratively developed climate resilience projects. The Department of Ecology collaborated with over 30 local jurisdictions, Tribal governments, state agencies, and nonprofit organizations to select and co-develop projects to improve resilience and enhance the climate adaptation capacity of local communities, prioritizing those that have been marginalized, underserved, and/or underrepresented. 81.3% of the Washington CRRC award funds (just under $61 million) will go towards projects located in or co-created with frontline communities and Tribes. $18.7 million will go toward projects located in disadvantaged communities (as identified by the federal Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool) while $41.7 million will go to projects implemented in partnership and in co-creation with Tribes.
As one of the subawardees in this portfolio, Snohomish County will complete a tidal reconnection project in the Snohomish River estuary by breaching the existing levee system and constructing a setback levee. Funds will be used to secure contract services through a bid process to implement all required construction tasks according to the restoration designs currently under development. This work is necessary to provide natural resiliency to climate change exacerbated floods, storms, and sea level rise.
Methods for providing public comment for agency consideration as part of the environmental justice assessment.
Washington Department of Ecology collaborated with Snohomish County in the planning for this project. This project was designed within the community and collaboratively with local stakeholders and partners. The project is located in a community identified as overburdened, and community members and Tribes helped co-develop the project and have ongoing opportunities to provide comments. The funds that are to be subgranted to Snohomish County are for the construction phase of this project. Snohomish County is currently in the conceptual design phase, with preliminary design anticipated by 2025 and final design anticipated by 2026. Snohomish County is currently collaborating with project partners and conducting outreach. They expect to make the preliminary project design available for review in spring 2025 and will incorporate comments and concerns into the final design. Opportunities for comment can be found on Snohomish County’s Chinook Marsh project page. Tribal partners are integrally involved with this project, and information sharing with other Tribal nations will be conducted by Snohomish County and NOAA. Additionally, the NOAA Office of Coastal Management will consult with potentially interested Tribes as part of the Federal Section 106 compliance process. Collaboration with and comment from the communities and tribes effected by this project will continue to inform the planning and design of this work.
Snohomish County will report the result of their meetings, outreach and coordination to the Department of Ecology throughout the project period. Snohomish County and Ecology are open to and will continue respond to comments received via email regarding environmental justice, overburdened communities, or vulnerable populations impacted by the project and seek further involvement to address concerns. Ecology will do additional outreach with overburdened communities as needed to address Environmental Justice concerns.
If you have comments on the Environmental Justice impacts or considerations for this project, you can reach out to the Ecology Project Manager, Julia, at jseb461@ecy.wa.gov.
Link to agency webpage where the action is posted.
Status
Project location
Address
Publicly owned property between Ebey Slough and Fobes Hill. Formerly referred to as Diking District 6 (DD6), this approximately 430-acre property is now called Chinook Marsh.
