Cedar River Sockeye Salmon Broodstock Collection Facility
Client: Seattle Public Utilities
Overview of Floyd|Snider Contributions
Project Summary
Seattle Public Utilities operates a sockeye salmon hatchery on the Cedar River.
Seattle Public Utilities operates a sockeye salmon hatchery on the Cedar River. It is designed to produce up to 34 million sockeye salmon fry annually, to provide mitigation for the blockage of fish passage and habitat loss for sockeye salmon above the Landsburg Diversion Dam. The broodstock collection facility (BCF) is a weir-like system that is installed seasonally in the lower reach of the Cedar River, in Renton, Washington, to collect migrating sockeye salmon for breeding. The existing BCF is not capturing enough fish and needs to be replaced to fulfill goals of interagency mitigation and habitat conservation plans. The project will replace the BCF with a system that can operate at higher river flows, increasing fish capture and genetic diversity and improving safety and operations for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel who oversee operations.
Our Approach
Floyd|Snider serves as the environmental lead, preparing comprehensive permit applications and leading the agency coordination to obtain regulatory authorizations to replace the BCF.
Construction must consider impacts to the built environment, including the adjacent and popular Cedar River Park, boaters and other recreationalists that use this reach of the river, and maintenance of public access to the shoreline. Conditions for the work are being defined through negotiations and formal agreement with the City of Renton. Considerations of the natural environment include implementation of a cofferdam system to segregate construction activities, completion within the allowable work window, and mitigation for unavoidable impacts to ecological function. Compensatory mitigation will include a combination of on- and off-site improvements, including large wood material installations, riparian habitat enhancements, and purchase of credits from the King County Mitigation Reserve Program.
Project Milestones:
2020. Permit applications submitted
2022–2023. Construction expected during an extended in-water work window
Floyd|Snider serves as the environmental lead, preparing comprehensive permit applications and leading the agency coordination to obtain regulatory authorizations to replace the BCF. The replacement BCF introduces an approximately 2,000-square-foot concrete foundation into the bed of the Cedar River, where no structure had existed before. It also introduces significant overwater components to the river seasonally and modifies the shoreline access.
Construction must consider impacts to the built environment, including the adjacent and popular Cedar River Park, boaters and other recreationalists that use this reach of the river, and maintenance of public access to the shoreline. Conditions for the work are being defined through negotiations and formal agreement with the City of Renton. Considerations of the natural environment include implementation of a cofferdam system to segregate construction activities, completion within the allowable work window, and mitigation for unavoidable impacts to ecological function. Compensatory mitigation will include a combination of on- and off-site improvements, including large wood material installations, riparian habitat enhancements, and purchase of credits from the King County Mitigation Reserve Program.
Project Milestones:
2020. Permit applications submitted
2022–2023. Construction expected during an extended in-water work window