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Tenmile Creek Restoration

The Tenmile Creek Watershed Project is a grass-roots effort to improve water quality in streams and ditches while preserving farming as a viable way of life in the Tenmile Creek drainage, a primarily rural watershed encompassing 65 miles of creeks and streams that flow into the Nooksack River near Interstate 5. Dorie Belisle, who owns an apple orchard in the watershed, manages the project in cooperation with the Whatcom County Agriculture Preservation Committee.

Dorie describes her one-on-one, “neighbor to neighbor” approach as key to the project’s success. “People are willing to do what makes sense, especially If you can get it done without it being regulatory while meeting their needs and the needs of the stream,” she says. She begins to build a relationship with interested local landowners during an initial walk-through of the parcel, where they discuss the owners’ needs and goals for their property and how watershed improvement can fit into those goals. Following the walk-through, Dorie helps to outline a game plan for riparian (streamside) restoration based on a timeline established by the landowner, and looks at the various state and federal programs available to provide financial assistance and/or planting materials.

Dorie’s initial focus has been the Four Mile Creek drainage. She’s conducted 38 home and site visits, resulting in a three- to five-year restoration plan for the entire length of the creek. To date, 44 landowners have taken part in the program.

In 2001, preliminary funding was provided by the WRIA 1 Watershed Management Project. Since then, funds have been acquired through grants from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Five Star Challenge Grant and the Washington State Department of Ecology Centennial Clean Water Fund, in partnership with the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) and the Whatcom Conservation District. The grants help with the purchase of trees from area nurseries and overall management of the project.

Dorie explains that she’s motivated “by the two gifts I have to give: my time and my passion.” Through her educational efforts in the community and each planting that occurs, she hopes to have the homeowners see the area not as individual parcels, but as an interconnected system where everyone can have a positive effect on the quality of their water and land.

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