estuaries

Project engineers partially drained Capitol Lake this week, part of a plan to transform Olympia by removing a dam and restoring the tidelands and estuary that was there before.

Olympia’s Capitol Lake will revert to an estuary. That’s the expectation now that the state has released its final environmental impact statement. It says a return to tidal mudflats is the only way to meet state water quality standards.

Earlier this month, the Port of Everett and Tulalip Tribes celebrated the return of 353 acres of estuary near the mouth of the Snohomish River. Blue Heron Slough will be fully restored in the coming weeks when a final dike is breached and the tides flow in. It will be the first time in 100 years that the land is reconnected to Puget Sound.

A town on the Skagit River that’s plagued with chronic flooding is one step closer to moving out of the flood plain. That’s thanks to a $1 million…

Capitol Lake in Olympia began as a picturesque reflecting pond has filled with sediment and deteriorated into a shallow haven for invasive species. It's future is now at the center of a debate and the subject of a new study by the state.

The Skagit River Valley is home to farmland that brings us everything from tulips to potatoes and berries. But the river that makes such rich soil…