King County Water Quality Monitoring
Since 1976 King County has been conducting monthly baseline monitoring at the mouth of Swamp Creek. Station 0470 is located at the USGS Gaging station near Bothell Way and 80th Ave North. In 1999 the County began monitoring another site on Swamp Creek (BB474) located at Carter Road. (Click here for information about Special Studies involving Swamp Creek.)
Swamp Creek Watershed
 Swamp Creek originates in the Paine Field and West Casino Road area of South Everett. Extensive wetlands once dominated the headwaters of Swamp Creek. The upper reaches still have some large good-quality wetlands and high-quality salmonid spawning and rearing habitat, as well as one of the largest populations of freshwater mussels found in the Puget Sound Lowlands (King County WLRD, May 2001). The creek flows roughly 10.9 miles southward into King County, where it empties into the Sammamish River just upstream of its outlet into Lake Washington. The Creek is placed in Ecology’s Noncore Salmon/Trout Aquatic Use Category which sets criterion for the protection of spawning, core rearing, and migration of salmon and trout, and other associated aquatic life.
The Swamp Creek basin is approximately 15,000 acres, and roughly 52 percent of the drainage is impervious and 19 percent forested cover. The drainage basin includes Scriber Lake, Martha Lake, and Lake Stickney and drains portions of Lynnwood, Everett, Brier, Bothell, Mountlake Terrace, Kenmore and unincorporated Snohomish County.
Swamp Creek supports runs of chinook, sockeye, kokanee, and coho salmon and steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout. In 1997 coho, sockeye, and kokanee were spotted in Swamp Creek reaches by Volunteer Salmon Watchers (King County WLRD. 2000c). Fewer observations were made in 1998 and 1999 by volunteers and no spawning salmonids were observed (King County WLRD. 2001b). In 1999 coho and cutthroat trout were observed spawning in an area not covered by volunteer watchers (King County WLRD. 1999 Unpublished data). Chinook redds were not found in Swamp Creek during the 1999 King County assessment (King County WLRD. 2000a); however, juvenile salmonids, including coho and cutthroat, were observed in many segements during the 1999 habitat surveys (King County WLRD. 2001a).
The salmonid habitat quality of Swamp Creek was evaluated by King County from August to November 1999 (see Special Studies section below). The middle stream reaches tended to be higher quality than the upper and lower segments. Most segments fell primarily in the low and medium-low habitat quality categories, although three segments were rated medium-high.
Streambank stability was found to be generally poor throughout Swamp Creek during a recent habitat survey (King County WLRD, May 2001a). Streambank stability ratings in many segments were related to the riparian corridor condition. Segments in the upper reaches of the watershed tended to have more stable streambanks than the middle and lower reaches.
Increased urbanization has resulted in peak flows of greater intensity and duration, lower summer flows, increased flashiness, over-widening of the stream channel, bank erosion, and scour of the streambed (Kerwin, 2002). Increased frequency of flood flows from 1964 - 1990 were found to coincide with urbanization over the same period.
Hydrology
King County maintains two water temperature gauges: Swamp Creek located on north-east side of creek underneath bridge near Burke-Gilman trail at RM 0.44 ( 56A), and Swamp Creek located on north-west side of creek west of Locust Rd. bridge at RM 5 (56C) and one streamflow gauge: Swamp Creek (56b) on Swamp Creek.
Benthic Macroinvertebrate Studies:
King County monitors stream health by collecting samples of benthic macroinvertebrates from selected streams. Benthic macroinvertebrates have been sampled at various locations in the North Creek basin in 2002 as part of King County's Benthic Macroinvertebrate Program. Results of the survey can be found in the Benthic Macroinvertebrate Study of Greater Lake Washington and Green-Duwamish River Watersheds Year 2002 Data Analysis (EVS, August 2004).
Habitat Inventory and Assessment
From August to November 1999, King County conducted habitat assessment on North, Swamp, and Little Bear creeks (King County WLRD, May 2001). These streams are the major three northern tributaries to the Sammamish River. The Swamp Creek habitat assessment took place from the mouth of the creek to 380 meters north of 164th Street S.E. in Snohomish County. Click here to download the Habitat Inventory and Assessment for North, Swamp, and Bear Creeks (PDF format).
The results of the habitat assessments indicate that the channel and habitat structure of a number of the segments in all three streams are frequently degraded relative to values from published "properly functioning conditions" for the Puget Sound or the Pacific Northwest region. These data provide important baseline information for any restoration projects that might occur in the basins, as well as for monitoring changes in habitat quality. This study may be used for a limiting factor analysis for the threatened chinook salmon as well as other salmonid species in these basins.
Small Streams Toxicity/Pesticide Study
In 1999, King County conducted a pesticide study on Lyon, Juanita, and Lewis creeks. In 2000 the study was repeated at Lyon, Swamp, and Little Bear creeks. In 2001, Big Bear and Issaquah Creeks were sampled. And in 2002, North, Little Bear, and the 124th street Creeks were sampled. Rock Creek was tested for pesticides in 1999 and then it was used as the reference stream for toxicity testing during each year of the study. The County collected samples for pesticides, other organics, metals, suspended solids, and toxicity (Ceriodaphnia dubia, and Selenastrum capricornutum). For more information, visit the pesticide study Web site.
Water Resources Inventory Area (WRIA) 8
In WRIA 8, citizens, scientists, businesses, environmentalists and governments are cooperating on protection and restoration projects and have developed a science-based plan to conserve salmon today and for future generations. Visit the WRIA 8 Web page to see how this creek is part of this WRIA 8 planning process.
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