Tribe Buys 2,000 Acres to Restore Salmon Habitat in Washington

The Stillaguamish Tribe just welcomed the tide back onto 230 acres of farmland for the first time in 140 years, creating a massive new wetland nursery for endangered salmon.

In October, tribal crews removed two miles of earthen levee where the Stillaguamish River meets Puget Sound near Seattle. What was once a dairy farm instantly transformed into a tidal marsh teeming with life.

"Before, it was a dairy operation, and now it's a big tidal marsh," says Scott Boyd, a Stillaguamish tribal member and fisheries manager. Clouds of shorebirds now swirl above the mudflats, feeding in channels that snake through the restored landscape.

The transformation addresses a crisis. In 2025, Chinook salmon numbers dropped so low that the entire 400-member tribe could only catch 26 fish for the year. These fish aren't just food. They're central to Stillaguamish identity and survival.

The tribe has spent 15 years buying back 2,000 acres of their traditional territory. Boyd acknowledges the painful irony of repurchasing land his ancestors traded in an 1855 treaty in exchange for permanent fishing rights.

"It is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow to buy back the land that we essentially traded for the resource, the fish, but it's what we have to do to get things back on track," he says. The tribe's official reservation spans less than 100 acres and wasn't granted until about a decade ago.

Tidal marshes serve as crucial nurseries where young Chinook salmon grow strong before heading to the ocean. Restoration crews dug channels before breaching the levee and discovered fire-charred clam shells up to 1,500 years old, evidence of ancestors who lived on this same land.

The new wetland, named zis a ba 2 after a 19th-century Stillaguamish chief, is the second of three large marshes the tribe is restoring. December floods reshaped the nascent marsh, depositing sediment and whole uprooted trees that will help the ecosystem develop faster.

The Ripple Effect

These restored wetlands protect more than fish. When the Stillaguamish River floods, the new floodplains give rising water room to spread out harmlessly instead of destroying homes and farms downstream.

Washington's December 2025 floods became the costliest natural disaster in state history, forcing thousands to evacuate. The tribe's wetland projects offer a natural solution, absorbing floodwaters before they cause damage.

Tribal biologist Jason Griffith watches hundreds of dunlins wheel overhead in tight formation like a living cloud. The shorebirds' abundance signals the marsh is already working.

After more than a century apart, the river and its floodplain are reconnected, creating space for salmon to thrive and communities to stay safe when the next big storm arrives.