Monitors check island streams for signs of salmon returning to spawn.

Grasping a clipboard and standing ankle deep in Cooper Creek, Jeanne Huber takes note of the alders and willows that have, since last year, continued to thicken over the creekbed’s firm silt and gravel base.

For Huber, the fact that Cooper Creek bears no surprises is its most welcome surprise.

“It’s one of the ‘a-ha’s’ we’ve learned from last year,” she says, as other volunteer stream monitors in fluorescent vests stretch a measuring tape across Cooper Creek’s banks.

“It hasn’t changed much, and that’s a good thing, because other streams on the island have changed,” Huber said.

With a good rain, a few curious salmon may find Cooper Creek, which drains into the west end of Eagle Harbor, much more hospitable than in years past.

Two years ago, the city removed a concrete water collection structure blocking the creek. Native vegetation was planted and a 7-foot-wide culvert was installed in hopes that coho salmon and searun cutthroat trout will return to spawn and nurture young fish.

Huber and three other trained volunteers will record the creek’s water levels, bank widths and other data until the end of February as part of a stream monitoring project established last year by the city and the Bainbridge Island Watershed Council.

A total of 15 monitors walk five island streams up to a mile from the saltwater shore, checking habitat conditions and documenting changes.

They haven’t seen many signs of fish this year, but the raw data they’re collecting is “a quantum leap in information” compared to previous years, according to city shorelines planner Peter Namtvedt Best.

“About a dozen streams on the island have historically been salmon-bearing streams,” said Best, who leads the project for the city. “But most of our information was anecdotal. We’d hear from people who grew up playing in streams who don’t see fish anymore.

“We’d hear from fishermen or other old-timers on the island who used to fish but can’t now after a road was built or a dam was put in.”

Local groups have collected data here and there, but the monitoring project is the first comprehensive, multi-year effort on the island, according to Best.

While about 12 island streams have been identified as prime habitat for salmon, less than half are at or near a healthy capacity. The island’s most vital fish-bearing flows include Fletcher, Manzanita and Murden creeks. “The benefit of this project over the long-term is better management of our watersheds and resources,” said Best. “It’s a guide of where to do restoration projects, where we need open spaces and where we should conserve land.”

Cooper Creek is a prime example of what salmon may require, according to island resident and habitat biologist Steve Todd.

“It’s staying intact over the years,” said Todd, a weekend monitoring volunteer who works for the Point no Point Treaty Council. Todd said the creek’s wide forest buffer absorbs rain and runoff, slowing the flow of water.

“If this was a more urban area, concrete and other surfaces would act as a conduit,” he said. “When it hits the creek, it would become a fast channel (and) erode the banks.”

Concentrated flash floods would also “scour out” salmon nests and newborn fish, according to Best.

Over time, the monitoring project’s data could hint at the impacts of nearby developments or the effectiveness of restoration efforts.

“A decline in salmon population could be an indication that we’re not caring for a watershed properly and that we should be concerned about our water quality,” Best said.

He is still waiting to see whether Cooper Creek improvements draw salmon.

The chum and coho salmon common to the island are currently milling about the island’s shores, waiting for a heavy rain to raise water levels in streams. Many salmon, completing their three to five-year life cycles, spawn at the creeks or streams where they were born. Because Cooper Creek was only recently made passable for salmon, few are expected this year.

“We need to look at (Cooper Creek) year to year over 10 years,” said Todd. “We want to look at drought conditions, how (salmon) respond to rains, how the salmon are taking advantage of little storms and how they respond to high tides.”

Best hopes to expand the monitoring project, incorporating more streams and a greater number of volunteers.

“I want to see this continue on in the long-term and hit all the major dozen streams on the island,” he said.

Best would also eventually like to use the data to help property owners incorporate voluntary land use strategies benefiting salmon and streams.

“This is a major opportunity for awareness and education for a better culture of resource management on the island,” he said.