Ala Spit County Park in Oak Harbor will be closed to the public from Aug. 24 through Sept. 25 for a salmon-restoration project, the Island County Department of Public Health said in a prepared release.

The project, funded by a State Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant, will remove a 425-foot concrete vertical bulkhead and modify a rock jetty installed at the spit in the mid-1960s.

Removal of the bulkhead will help support juvenile salmon-rearing habitat, surf smelt and Pacific sand lance spawning habitat, and submerged aquatic vegetation habitat, the county said.

Modifying the jetty, which is currently redirecting accumulating sand eastward of the spit, will restore the natural accumulation rates on the spit.

Ala Spit County Park, located off Jones Road on Skagit Bay, comprises four acres of uplands, 5,000 feet of beach and tidelands, plus the eight-acre sand and gravel spit.

Nearby residents, fishers, beach walkers, bird watchers and other park visitors are invited to learn more about the project at an open house 1-4 p.m. Aug. 15 at Ala Spit County Park.

A copy a report and project plans for restoration of Ala Spit is available at http://www.islandcountyeh.org/Projects