Welcome - some informative links and background for project
https://salishsearestoration.org/wiki/Butler_Cove_Watershed
https://salishsearestoration.org/wiki/Lowland_Watersheds
https://goo.gl/maps/NrXTiHmGH7bD4PyG9 = Wasatch Estuary
Butler Cove - History = https://olympiahistory.org/butler-cove/
USGS map - https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/12078670/#period=P1Y
Northwest Olympia Watersheds - maps = https://watershedmaps.com/product-category/nw-olympia/
Butler Cove History = https://www.thurstontalk.com/2016/04/21/butler-cove-olympia-history/
Butler Creek and Butler Cove - habitat restoration
South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group - https://pugetsoundkeeper.org/puget-sound-stewardship-mitigation-fund/2020-projects-funded/
$35,000 – Butler Cove Estuary Restoration
Region: West side of Budd Inlet
The Butler Cove Estuary is the largest pocket estuary in Budd Inlet that drains Butler Creek which has three separate tributaries each with wetland complex headwaters and host 3 miles of potential habitat. Each year, multiple salmonid species attempt to reach these headwaters. Butler Cove estuary was modified and developed in the early 1930’s by the property owner for the installation of fish rearing ponds from the mouth of the estuary up 400’ to Windolph Road, a private road. The development consisted of installing an earth embankment across the estuary, a concrete spillway, an 18-inch bypass pipe and upstream concrete divider walls and spillways. But as time passed, fish rearing operations were abandoned, and as a result of neglected maintenance the impoundment filled with sediment. In 2006, the earthen dam failed, but the infrastructure remains. The project will: remove the remaining infrastructure; prepare a plan and work with local residents to address invasives; and let natural processes restore the creek bed. The project is fully designed and partially permitted.
Restoration of Butler Cove salt marsh is high priority for locally driven salmon restoration. Restoration of marine marshes like Butler Cove improve estuarine function compromised by physical alteration. The Windolph Road community has been advocating for and supportive of this project since 2003. The project received $192,000 from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. This grant provides match funding required by the State, and is essentially being leveraged x5 by the SRFB funding.
