Jimmycomelately (JCL) Creek is the largest stream in the Sequim Bay watershed. It flows nearly 19 miles from its headwaters at about 3,800 feet in Olympic National Forest to the mouth in Sequim Bay. The drainage is mostly federal and state forestland, with dwellings, small farms, and tribal facilities including a casino near the mouth. The lower mile of channel was moved and confined in the early 1900’s, isolating it from its floodplain and estuary.
A major restoration project has recently been completed in Jimmycomelately Creek. The goal of the project was to restore the Creek, its estuary, and associated critical habitat and functions for the benefit of ESA listed summer chum salmon, eel grass, clam beds and habitat for shorebirds and migratory waterfowl. This creek was pushed to the edge of its basin in the 1920’s, and diked into place. The estuary was crisscrossed with a railroad, a county road, a national highway and various buildings. For 100 years fill was brought in to support a log yard storage operation. In 1999 only seven chum returned to JCL. In July 2004, above the estuary, in the .8 miles of snaking new creek channel, more than 400 summer chum—hopefully—spawned.
The critical step was to relocate the creek from its artificially straightened channel back to a historic estuary channel on Sequim Bay. This will restore natural habitat-forming processes including:
- natural stream fluvial and sediment transport functions
- channel/floodplain/groundwater interaction
- riparian functions with natural plant species and patterns
- salt marsh and estuary habitat formation
This project will have the additional benefit of reducing flood hazards along lower Jimmycomelately Creek and Sequim Bay.
After essential parcels of land were acquired, the over-all project consisted of four major phases:
- Realignment of the Jimmycomelately Creek channel and re-vegetation of the stream corridor and buffer with native plants
- Construction of a new Highway 101 bridge for the realigned Jimmycomelately Creek
- Restoration of the estuary, including removal of roads, excavation of 100 years of log yard fill, removal of 99 creosote treated pilings, and restoration of Dean Creek
- Diversion of the existing Jimmycomelately stream flow into the new stream channel
Most of the physical restoration work was completed during the summers of 2003, 2004, and 2005. The Jimmycomelately Creek water was diverted to the new channel in the fall of 2005, in time to allow the returning chum salmon to spawn in the “new” historic channel. The number of summer chum adults that returned to JCL in 2005 was 1,310. An extensive fish-monitoring program continues in the creek.
The project has cost over $6,000,000, and has been conducted by 20 governmental and other organizations. Key restoration partners have been the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Clallam County, the Clallam Conservation District, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Washington Department of Transportation. In addition to these key funders, participants have been the US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Environmental Projection Agency, US Natural Resource Conservation Service, the State Departments of Transportation and Natural Resources, and the Salmon Recovery Fund.
The Olympic Discovery Trail with bird blinds and a birding trail will pass through the project. The project is serving as a model for similar restoration projects in Discovery Bay and elsewhere in the Puget Sound area.