Tolmie State Park will close parking, restrooms for fish passage project this fall

OLYMPIA – Aug. 31, 2022 – Washington State Parks will close the lower parking lot and all restroom facilities at Tolmie State Park near Lacey on Tuesday, Sept. 6 to complete a fish passage project.

The upper lot at Tolmie will remain open, with space for 30 cars, and portable toilets will be available during construction. The work is set to start in September and wrap up in February of 2023. Visitors will be able to reach the beach on a steep trail from the upper parking lot.

Designed and engineered by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), this project will replace a five-foot culvert with a 95-foot span bridge, allowing water to flow freely between the park's stream and intertidal lagoon. The new stream will provide rearing and feeding habitat for salmon and the bridge will provide a safer, more scenic pedestrian walkway from the parking area to the lower picnic shelter and beach.

The work allows the park to meet state and federal requirements around fish passage improvement and culvert correction. The culvert removal will improve approximately two miles of spawning grounds for Chinook, coho, chum, winter steelhead and cutthroat.

The project is expected to cost just over $1.1 million. Rognlin's, Inc. of Aberdeen will complete the work.

About Tolmie State Park

Tolmie State Park is a 154-acre, marine day-use park with 1,800 feet of saltwater shoreline on South Puget Sound. The park offers beach activities, shellfish harvesting, an underwater park that contains an artificial reef and three miles of hiking trails. Tolmie also features a saltwater marsh that is home to birds and wildlife.

News media contacts:

Meryl Lassen, Communications Consultant, 503-490-8796 media@parks.wa.gov
Janet Shonk, Area Manager, 360-956-4834 Janet.Shonk@parks.wa.gov