Bulkhead Removal
The nearshore environments of the Puget Sound are a critical piece of pacific salmon life histories. Backshore bluffs provide material to feed and accrete beaches.
Marine riparian areas provide shade, act as an important component of the food web through input of insect prey and serve as an ongoing supply of large woody debris that ultimately creates structure and habitat for juvenile salmonids along the shorelines.
Naturally low sloping beaches support juvenile migration corridors as the shallows provide important refugia from larger, predatory fish. The upper intertidal beaches are also important for forage fish spawning habitat, which serve as a food source for Puget Sound salmonids as well as other marine and avian creatures.
Many of these critical nearshore habitats have been significantly degraded or completely lost in the extensive development and modification of Puget Sound shorelines.
Marine shoreline armoring is one of the modifications that has significantly altered juvenile salmon habitat. Removing this shoreline armoring, or replacing it with ’softer’ alternatives, is paramount to restoring one of the habitats crucial to the survival of salmon.
SPSSEG Bulkhead Projects