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Bellingham Bay

With a population of over 57,000, Bellingham Bay is a primarily urban drainage. It encompasses the smaller drainages of Whatcom, Padden and Chuckanut Creeks, as well as Fragrance and Padden Lakes. Most of the Bellingham Bay watershed is zoned for urban uses, with rural, forestry, open space, and commercial/industrial uses making up the balance. (For purposes of WRIA watershed and salmon planning, Lake Whatcom and Squalicum Creek are considered to be separate watersheds from Bellingham Bay.)

Coho and chum make up most of the salmonids that use the creeks of this watershed. Coastal cutthroat and steelhead also use the watershed. Pinks and fall chinook can be found in Whatcom Creek, due largely to a now-discontinued hatchery program, as well as in the other Bellingham Bay drainages. In addition, the estuaries of Bellingham Bay are used by many juvenile salmonids, including chinook, pinks, and chum that spawn in the Nooksack River system. These young fish move to the nursery areas in the Bay to grow and prepare for the open ocean.

Problems with habitat in this basin are mostly related to urbanization. For virtually all of the bay’s tributaries, riparian (streamside) vegetation, shade, and woody debris are lacking and the streams have been restricted to narrow channels. And stormwater--because of both its quantity and quality--is a problem, causing erosion and carrying pollutants into streams. Habitat issues for the three major tributaries include:

• Whatcom Creek has been channelized and constrained to reduce flooding of adjacent homes and businesses.
• Padden Creek has been routed through a tunnel over 2700 feet long that essentially blocks all fish from swimming upstream to several miles of usable habitats.
• Chuckanut Creek, although less urbanized than the other two streams, is also affected by development--for instance, the railroad trestle that crosses its estuary has created a mud flat that restricts fish access to the mouth of the creek during low tide levels.

Many of the habitat restoration projects in the watershed are being planned and led by the City of Bellingham. They cover a variety of approaches, including riparian plantings, control of non-native invasive plants and restoring channel movement and instream habitats. One project in the works is to add meanders to Whatcom Creek near the Haskell Business Center, which will complement the remediation and riparian work performed after the 1999 pipeline explosion. The City is also seeking funding to “daylight” Padden Creek (taking the creek out of its tunnel and returning it to a natural channel).

In addition, a multi-agency team led by the Department of Ecology has identified and begun implementing restoration projects in Bellingham Bay itself. Many of these projects strive to address habitat losses that have come about from shoreline development, filling of tidelands, and loss of estuary area.

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