Highway 410 Realignment & Foothills Trail
Buckley Washington
A wetland delineation and habitat impact assessment were performed on a 21-acre site along the Foothills Trail near Highways 410 & 265 for a highway realignment project. Four native growth protection areas and nine wetlands were identified, delineated, and buffered. A 0.78 acre wetland was designed and created in third growth forested upland to mitigate the loss of 0.38 acre of Category III wetlands for the highway project. A depressional forested, Category III wetland was designed as part of the compensatory mitigation. The project included performing a fish and wildlife determination and a priority habitats and species study. A wetland delineation report followed up with a compensatory wetland mitigation plan was prepared using a series of GIS maps, a planting plan, and a habitat features plan. These reports were used to locate, assess, and transform a 0.78-acre section of third growth forested upland into a viable and serene wetland for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife species. Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington State Department of Ecology and the United States Army Corps of Engineers approved the Wetland Mitigation Plan in 2 months after the draft plan was submitted. The created wetland and enhanced buffer have been constructed and the site has been monitored for 10 years to assess its regulatory performance standards. Long term monitoring has been completed in 2022 and the performance standards have all exceeded their benchmarks and the wetland continues to support a wealth of habitat for many mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and other terrestrial and aquatic animals and plants. All three wetland characteristics were achieved. The created wetland is now a permanently protected resource and will remain a unique part of the City of Buckley’s Foothills Trail corridor for local residents to enjoy for generations to come.
