Changes coming for coastal train tracks that endanger salmon
EDMONDS — Much like its human residents, Snohomish County’s chinook salmon are trying to navigate the 73 miles of BNSF railway tracks trimming Puget Sound to access the water.
For young fish, a natural nursery habitat at the spot where streams meet the sound is often blocked by pipes that route waterflow under the tracks.
A collection of state and federal agencies just wrapped up a year-long effort to prioritize nearly 200 streams and determine where projects to increase fish access would have the most bang for their buck.
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Chinook are a large salmon that spawn in rivers, Bloch said. Babies hatch in the gravel then make their way toward the Sound. After they arrive, recent research shows they often duck back into stream habitats while they grow and get ready to take on the marine environment.
“The fish are telling us ‘these are habitats we like,’ and we’re trying to get them back to these habitats,” Bloch said.
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