The city of Sammamish is moving forward with a “high priority” replacement culvert project that should allow kokanee passage under East Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast and up Zackuse Creek by 2019, according to city documents.

The kokanee are Lake Sammamish’s rare, freshwater salmon; the species returns to a few native streams once a year to breed.

Last month, the City Council unanimously earmarked $1.2 million for the culvert replacement and stream restoration project when it approved its stormwater improvement plan.

The planning document maps the next six years of stormwater capital expenditures; it does not commit the city to approving or funding any of the listed projects, though the city uses it as a guide during the budget process. Listed projects are also eligible for grant funding.

Earlier this year, the city received a grant of $157,400 from King County. This week the council unanimously approved an agreement with the county to receive that money, with the stipulation that the project be completed by February 2019.

For years the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group, a collaboration between volunteers, private residents, nonprofits such as Trout Unlimited and a collection of lake-side cities like Sammamish, has been working to boost the kokanee population, which saw only 53 spawning adults return in 2007-’08.

This year’s return, about 5,500 fish, was the third highest in the last two decades.

Another large spawning run is anticipated in 2018-’19.

“This makes it all the more important to begin work on this project as soon as possible to ensure permitting, design and construction are completed well before that spawning season begins,” according to city documents.

Zackuse Creek, though not currently a kokanee spawning ground, could prove a boon for the population — once the fish can get there.

The city-owned culvert under the parkway has proven to be a barrier, blocking fish migration up from the lake.

In the coming years, the city plans to begin the design process for the culvert replacement and to realign and restore approximately 200 feet of the creek’s steam channel within and upstream, or east, of the culvert.

“It’s not meant to be a straight line going into the culvert,” Councilmember Tom Odell said. “It will meander …. The objective is to have the channelization done well enough so the channel maintains itself as opposed to silting a lot of the time like it does now.”

Sammamish resident Wally Pereyra, known for his improvements along another of the kokanee’s breeding grounds, Ebright Creek, also owns part of the land that Zackuse flows through before crossing under the parkway.

A Kokanee Work Group member, Pereyra has been eyeing the creek for his next kokanee project for a while.

“I want to thank the council for taking that step in prioritizing that replacement,” Pereyra said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “I like the plan they have for realigning the creek and restoring it to what I think will be a much, much better complement to the restoration efforts to bring back the kokanee.

“September or October 2018, we’re going to have one heck of a celebration at my place when we go ahead and dedicate the culvert,” he said.