Mitigation Planning for Wetland Permitting in Whatcom County, WA

Mitigation Site within the Landscape:

Headwater wetland construction with direct connection to Slater Slough & its downstream tributaries & waterbodies

• Slater Slough – Smugglers Slough – Lummi River – Lummi Bay – Salish Sea

Important ecological functions & lift for sensitive downstream environments

• Lummi River
• Frequently Flooded Area Inundated by 100 Year Flooding HCA 1a Shoreline of Significance
• Fish HCA
• Lummi Bay
• HCA 2 State & Federal Listed Species Have a Primary Association
• HCA 3 Habitats & Areas Associated with a State Priority Species
• HCA 4 Commercial & Recreational Shellfish Areas
• HCA 5 Eelgrass Beds
• HCA 6 Herring Spawning

Directly abuts a diked portion of the Nooksack River

• HCA 1a Shoreline of Significance & Fish HCA
• HCA 2 State & Federal Listed Species Have a Primary Association
• Including, but not limited to, Peregrine Falcons, Cavity Nesting Ducks, Waterfowl Concentrations, Bald Eagles, Swans, & Sandhill Cranes

Benefits of Headwater Wetland Construction:

• Water Quality Functions
• Filter pollutants, thus decreasing nutrients & removing/reducing sediment loads from agriculture within the contributing watershed
• Water Quantity/Hydrologic Functions
• Provide storage to reduce peak flows & erosion
• Habitat/Ecological Functions
• Increase habitat for raptors, waterfowl, wetland associated birds, & aquatic invertebrates
• Increase native plant richness
• Increase corridor connectivity to the Nooksack River, Slater Slough, Smugglers Slough, Lummi River, & Lummi Bay