Public Involvement Opportunities

The proposed project site is located on the northeast portion of Smith Island within the Snohomish River estuary near the City of Everett. It is bounded by Union Slough to the east and north, Interstate 5 to the west, and Everett’s wastewater treatment plant to the south. The site consists of approximately 486 acres of publicly and privately owned land.

The fundamental purpose of the Smith Island Restoration Project is to restore estuarine tidal marshlands that provide critical habitat for Chinook and other salmon species in the Snohomish River basin. By constructing a new setback dike further to the west and removing large sections of the existing dike along Union Slough, the restoration project will contribute significantly toward achieving salmon recovery benchmarks identified in the Snohomish River Basin Salmon Conservation Plan.

Additionally, the restoration of several hundred acres of natural tidal marshlands may provide compensatory mitigation for wetland impacts associated with a state highway project, a railroad project, and possibly other construction activities taking place in the Snohomish River estuary.