The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutHabitat Management Plan 701091007 Habitat Management Plan for 2160 Dabob Post Office Road Quilcene, WA Jefferson County, Washington Assessor’s Parcel No. 701091007 March 20, 2017 Submitted to: Jefferson County Department of Community Development 621 Sheridan Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 Submitted by: Peter Bahls, Aquatic Ecologist Northwest Watershed Institute 3407 Eddy Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 Peter@nwwatershed.org 1 Introduction Background The Property (aka Eldridge Property) is located at 2160 Dabob Post Office Road near Quilcene, Washington and is owned by Northwest Watershed Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit conservation organization based in Port Townsend, Washington. The property is recorded under Assessor’s No. 701091007. The Property lies within the NE and SE quarters of Section 9 Township 27 North and Range 1 West. The Eldridge Property is within the boundaries of the Dabob Bay Natural Area and includes forested slopes on the east side of Tarboo Bay (Figures 1 and 2). Eldridge Creek bisects the Property, flowing through a forested ravine to Tarboo-‐Dabob Bay (Figure 3). The Property is 19.83 acres in size according to a 2016 survey conducted by Johnston Survey for Northwest Watershed Institute (NWI) (Figures 3 and 4). The Property was purchased on March 23, 2016 by Northwest Watershed Institute using federal grant funding provided by the National Coastal Wetland Conservation Program. At the time of purchase NWI recorded a federal deed restriction on the Property, termed a Notice of Federal Participation (NOFP), which protects the property in perpetuity for natural habitat conservation (AFN 598165). The NOFP allows use of the one-‐acre existing house site for use as a caretaker residence for long-‐term conservation stewardship of the Property. Description of the proposed project This Habitat Management Plan analyzes NWI’s request for a riparian buffer averaging needed to replace a caretaker’s house and septic system that were removed in 2016. In the fall of 2016, the existing house was demolished and the failing septic system was decommissioned. NWI plans to build a new caretaker’s house and septic system on the Property in the same approximate location as the previous residence. NWI has submitted a permit application to build a septic system under case number SEP-‐16-‐00105. NWI plans to build or install a caretaker’s residence within the next several years. Jefferson County requirements call for a 150 foot setback from Eldridge Creek, a potential fish bearing stream. NWI is requesting that the buffer along the south side of the creek be reduced to 75 percent for about a 200 feet length of riparian area (Figure 5). This reduction is necessary because of the constraints of the site’s topography and property boundaries. In addition, NWI would like to reduce environmental impacts by building the new house and septic system in the general developed and cleared location where the previous house was located and which is accessible by an existing road (Figures 6 and 7). 2 Figure 1. Site map showing location of Eldridge Property within the Tarboo watershed. Green areas are permanently conserved lands. Eldridge Property 3 Figure 2. Aerial view east of Eldridge Property boundaries (in magenta). Figure 3. Eldridge Property showing general location of 1 acre caretaker residence area, Eldridge Creek, mature forest, and historically cleared areas now re-‐vegetating. Eldridge Ck 1 acre caretaker residence area Re-veg areas NWI "Holland" property DNR Natural Area Trail 4 Figure 4. Topographic site map of the Eldridge property showing Eldridge Creek ravine and house and septic system removed in 2016. Overall Site Plan Northwest Watershed Institute 2160 Dabob Post Office Road Quilcene, WA 98367 Parcel Number 701091007 19.68 Acres (857,280 SF) Drawn By: Everett A. Sorensen, P.E. Streamline Environmental, Inc. 715 Grant St; Port Townsend, WA 98368-2405 everett@streamlineenv.com; 360-821-9960 June 30 , 2016 Parcel boundary and elevation contours taken from Jefferson County’s on-line GIS (http://maps.co.jefferson.wa.us ) 0 320 480160 640 Ft80 Original Scale: 1" = 160' 701091007 701094002 701091006 701091008 701091008 Subject Parcel BoundaryArea Detailed in Following Sheet 701091002 South End of Dabob Post Office Road End of ROW 5 Figure 5. Detailed map showing proposed location of septic system and house (in blue) in relation to 112.5’ and 117.5’ setbacks for septic system and house, respectively. Also shows septic system and house removed in 2016 (labeled as “existing” here). Proposed house and septic system 112.5' 117.5' 6 Figure 6. Photo of 1500 square foot house demolished in 2016. Figure 7. View northwest of proposed development site after house and septic system removed (October 2016). 7 Figure 8. NWI field assistant checking undersized driveway culvert over Eldridge Creek. Figure 9. Eldridge Creek riparian area on the Property. 8 Habitat Description Eldridge Creek flows through a forested ravine that bisects the Eldridge property. The entire length of stream and corresponding buffer through the property is approximately 1,000 feet. Eldridge Creek is a small perennial stream that is shown on the state water type maps as “fish-‐bearing”. The stream likely has the potential to support cutthroat trout, however it is probably too small and steep in gradient to support other salmonids such as coho salmon or chum salmon. One existing driveway crosses the stream at the lower end of the property. The culvert crossing here is undersized and occasionally becomes plugged and overflows the road, adding sediment to the stream and potentially blocking fish passage (Figure 8). The forested riparian area is composed of approximately 50 year old mixed conifer and hardwood trees; primarily big leaf maple, alder, Douglas fir and western red cedar with an understory of salmonberry and sword fern (Figure 9). The habitat quality of the forested riparian area along the creek is relatively good. However, English ivy patches and English holly trees are scattered throughout the property and are a long term threat to native riparian vegetation. In addition, several historic cleared areas on the north side of the creek are re-‐vegetating from many years of use as a dairy barn and overflow parking area. Analysis of the effect of the proposed project on fish and wildlife species within the Priority habitat Jefferson County’s FWHCA buffer requirement is 150 horizontal feet on each side of Eldridge Creek. The outer edge of this buffer extends well above the top of the break in slope onto more gentle ground (less than 30 percent in slope). The proposed buffer reduction of 75% would reduce this distance to 112.5 feet on the south side, which is still well beyond the break in slope of the creek’s ravine as shown in the topopgraphy of Figures 4 and 5. This buffer reduction is only needed for the one acre area where the house and septic will be replaced, and would extend a maximum of 200 feet along the length of the riparian area. The new septic system, house and associated parking are planned within a portion of the previously cleared footprint of the prior development. Thus, there will be no new tree removal or other new impacts to native vegetation, riparian areas, or wildlife. In fact, by observing the 112.5 foot setback from the creek, the new proposed house and septic system will be approximately 50 feet further away from the creek than the previous development (Figure 5). Thus, the overall effect of the proposal will be to reduce impacts to the FWHCA from prior conditions. It appears that this proposal could be approved through either buffer averaging or a buffer reduction with mitigation. With the hope of simplify the approval process, NWI is proposing a buffer averaging plan. The total proposed area of impact area within the 150 foot wide riparian buffer is 37.5 feet wide (150 feet -‐112.5 allowable reduced width) by a length of 200 feet, or 7,500 square feet (.17 acre). This impact is relatively minor considering that the remainder of the riparian area on both sides of the creek, and all but one acre of the 19.98 acre Eldridge property are permanently protected for fish and wildlife habitat under federal deed restrictions. In their Priority Habitat and Species 9 recommendations, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recommends 200 feet buffers on small (5-‐20 feet wide) fish bearing streams (Knutson and Naef 1997). In this case, NWI is effectively proposing to increase the riparian protection width to the maximum of 200 feet along each side of the creek (except for the 200 length adjacent to the residential development site). Thus, the riparian area is reduced along 10% of its total length of 2,000 feet (both sides) and increased along 90% of its total length. The resulting average buffer width is 180 feet, far exceeding the county requirement. Proposed Mitigation Measures No mitigation other than buffer averaging is proposed. As owner and steward of the property, NWI plans to implement other habitat restoration projects, such as removal of invasive English ivy and holly, as funding becomes available, but not as a Jefferson County requirement. Qualifications of the Preparer Peter Bahls, the primary author of this report, is a fish biologist and aquatic ecologist with Northwest Watershed Institute. He earned an M.S. in Fisheries Science and Aquatic Ecology from Oregon State University, a B.S. in Environmental Studies-‐Biology from Middlebury College, and has over 20 years experience conducting fish and wildlife research, restoration, and management projects in the Pacific Northwest. Literature Cited Knutson, K.L. and V. Naef. 1997. Management recommendations for Washington’s priority habitats: riparian. Washington Dept. Fish and Wildl., Olympia, WA. 181 pp. http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00029/