Aerial photo credit: Island Places, Dean L. Sanders Photography

We are thrilled to announce that the Kilisut Harbor Restoration project reached the milestone we’ve all been working toward for the last 9 years – Oak Bay is now reconnected to Kilisut Harbor! The land bridge connecting the two islands was built in the 1940’s making it almost 75 years since these two water bodies have been connected. There are fish and crab in the newly constructed tidal channels and the water quality improvements to Kilisut Harbor are already apparent. The first weekend it opened, community members paddled back and forth between the two bays, and there was talk of the first circumnavigation of Marrowstone by a local father and son! We see again, that our nearshore projects aren’t just good for fish and ecosystems, but also our local communities. In this image, Oak Bay is at the bottom of the photo. The clean, cold water is flowing north into Kilisut Harbor/Scow Bay. The ribbon of clean water is evident north of the bridge, as it slices through the red tide filling the warm waters of Kilisut Harbor. This mixing on each tide cycle is expected to improve water quality in Kilisut Harbor over time. For more images of the recent opening of the channel and more information about the project, click here.