Sediment Clean-Up

 

Eelgrass is a basic and necessary component of salmon habitat and needs an oxygen/nitrogen environment in order to grow healthy. Currently, this environment exists in only a few areas at the nearshore area of Puget Creek Beach.

 

The sediment in the beach area near C.I. Shenanigans restaurant is contaminated with woody debris leftover from the docks, wharfs, and sawmills that operated along Ruston Way for over 100 years. As the woody debris decomposes, it produces sulfides/sulfates and creates a prime environment for a variety of bacteria, which then grows into dense mats. Both the debris and the bacteria mats limit the spread of eelgrass in the area. This project will dig up some of the woody debris-contaminated sediment and replace it with clean sediment fill.

 

If this test project produces beneficial results, there will likely be a bigger clean-up project put into place in the future. Eelgrass beds all along the Ruston Way nearshore area would benefit from sediment clean-up.

 

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