Qwuloolt Estuary: A decade of restoration

Ten years ago, on August 28, 2015, excavators breached a levee along Ebey Slough and tidal waters surged into the Qwuloolt Estuary for the first time in more than a century. That single act reconnected 354-acres of historic wetlands to the life-giving rhythm of the Salish Sea.

At the time, the Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration Project was hailed as the second-largest estuary restoration effort in Washington State. A decade later, its impact reaches far beyond those acres, serving as real world example of what community, culture, and collaboration can accomplish.

Breathing life back into the land

“This is a great, great day. It’s been a long time coming,” said Kurt Nelson, Tulalip Tribes Environmental Department Administrator, during the levee breach celebration in 2015. “I’ve been on this project for 11 years and there have been many challenges and hurdles, but we’ve gotten through them all. What we have now is a 354-acre estuary wetland complex that saw its first tidal flows in 100 years.”

Kurt’s words proved prophetic. Today, the estuary is a living system of tidal channels, mudflats, and native vegetation. Juvenile salmon once again feed and grow here before migrating to the ocean, while migratory birds fill the skies above.

“If you watch the live-stream webcam in fast motion, you’ll notice it’s almost like this site is breathing,” Kurt said back then. “The estuary is flooding and draining, flooding and draining with tidal waters, like a lung does with oxygen. It’s a nice comparison to bringing some life back to an isolated floodplain that hadn’t seen that kind of life in a long time.”

Reviving salmon

The Qwuloolt project was about salmon, which are central to Coast Salish culture. For decades, levees and drainage channels prevented saltwater from mixing with freshwater, cutting off essential habitat. By reopening the estuary, the project restored a natural nursery for fish central to both ecosystem health and tribal identity.

“Qwuloolt is not only a nursery area for hundreds of thousands of juvenile salmon that migrate from the upper basins of the Snohomish that will come through this estuary and feed on various prey species and grow very rapidly, but also contributes to the survival of fish all over the Snohomish basin,” Kurt explained. “It will improve the water quality of Jones and Allen Creek, while being an extremely important bird habitat for migratory waterfowl, as well as restoring native wetland vegetation.”

For the Tulalip people, these outcomes are deeply tied to cultural survival. Every salmon that passes through Qwuloolt strengthens treaty rights, sustains ceremonies, and creates opportunity for traditional foods to remain available to future generations.

A model of partnership

The success of the Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration Project was rooted in unprecedented cooperation. Tribal, federal, state, and local agencies worked side by side for nearly two decades, securing $20 million from a patchwork of funding sources.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were responsible for the levee construction and the levee breach, while the Tribes were responsible for the channels, the berms, the planting, and some of the utility work that needed to be done,” noted Kurt. “From beginning to end, QERR was all about partnership and working together in getting this project done.”

That spirit of collaboration continues to inspire restoration work across the region.

“As evidenced here today, it really has been a tremendous collaboration between the tribes and federal, state and local governments to bring this project through and really make a significant change for our environment,” said Col. John Buck of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “Over the past century, we’ve seen this continuing degradation of our environment in the northwest and it’s through collaboration and partnership that we can really affect change.”

Nature’s classroom

In the years since its rebirth, Qwuloolt has become a destination for school field trips, birdwatchers, and community members seeking to connect with the land. Native vegetation flourishes where cattle once grazed. Eagles, herons, and migratory waterfowl now feed in abundance, drawing residents from Marysville and beyond to witness the return of nature to their backyard.

Teachers bring students to the site to see science in action, such as tidal flows carving new channels, salmon fry darting among sedges, and restored wetlands filtering water before it flows downstream. These visits deepen the community’s awareness of the interconnectedness of ecosystems, while inspiring future generations to be stewards of the environment.

The estuary also stands as a reminder of resilience. Where there was once a Superfund landfill site and abandoned farmland, there is now a thriving ecosystem that improves water quality, mitigates flooding, and combats global warming by sequestering carbon in wetland soils.

A lasting legacy

In its first decade, Qwuloolt has proven that damaged lands can be healed and that healing can ripple outward to fish, to birds, to water quality, and to people. The estuary is now a living classroom, a haven for wildlife, and a reminder that communities can correct past mistakes through persistence and partnership.

For Kurt Nelson, 2025 marks nearly 40 years of employment with Tulalip. He maintains that the estuary project is one of the largest and most impactful initiatives the Tribe has accomplished to date, and that its impact will continue to evolve.

“There’s a lot of area here that will continue to fill in with vegetation, and I expect to see an increasing number of salmon using this particular area,” boasted Kurt. “This was built to not have to do a lot of maintenance, instead it was built to evolve and change over time with changing tidal levels. It’s only going to get better and better over time.”

A decade after Salish Sea waters rushed back in, Qwuloolt Estuary is thriving. Its channels pulse with the rhythm of the tide, its wetlands hum with birdsong, and its waters nurture the salmon that sustain both local ecosystems and our people.