It's quite possible the Federal Way News could take credit for the theme of a new ABC reality TV program.

Just picture it: A needy family of pink, chinook, chum and coho salmon get whisked away on a much needed three-year vacation to the exotic Pacific Ocean.

During that time, a hard-working, action-oriented crew of professionals steps in and gives their struggling home a complete makeover.

The engineers devise a master plan to turn a little house ravaged by decades of abuse into the salmon's dream home.

With cameras rolling, WSDOT descends upon Hylebos creek with an army of equipment, ripping out stream walls and ridding the salmon family of noxious weeds and Himalayan blackberry (the anadromous version of nasty shag carpeting).

Where once flowed a cramped and unproductive little residence unsuitable to raise young ones, the creek transforms into a spacious, immaculately decorated home, with every detail promoting feng shui for fish.

Can you imagine it?

With the end of the salmon's vacation drawing near, WSDOT crews kick the renovation project into high gear, eager to surprise the unsuspecting fish as they return home after a long voyage at sea.

Video cameras capture the moment as the salmon round Commencement Bay to discover that a multi-tiered project - one that has received support from the federal government all the way down to the Federal Way City Council - has turned their shack in to Shangri La.

Since scientists haven't confirmed whether salmon cry, the show would have to devise a way to turn on the tear faucet with viewers at home.

Perhaps the cameras could cut to a shot of a big female chinook, which upon reaching an abundance of previously-uninhabitable spawning ground, porpoises through the air while the studio editors mix in some sappy music.

In the next instant, the fish - beside herself with both happiness and disbelief - rushes to the nearest gravel bed and deposits the eggs she so dearly wants to lay. The camera cuts to Ty Pennington embracing a sobbing male chum salmon, and then the credits start rolling.

Well, it could happen, anyway.

Without a doubt, this theme would send the network to the top of the viewer ratings.

But the real story - while somewhat less dramatic - still carries a powerful message about the good work of some committed conservationists.

Two years have passed since Friends of the Hylebos Executive Director Chris Carrel met with the Federal Way News about the Spring Valley Ranch project.

The site of a former horse farm sits on some of the Hylebos' most desirable salmon spawning habitat and plays a critical role in the protection of the entire ecosystem of that area.

"We brought together all of the experts, the engineers and the biologists," Carrel said as he walked down 373rd Street to the site of the construction, "and they all said this is the most important piece of property along the Hylebos."

And save it they have.

A small organization, the Friends of the Hylebos could not obtain the capital needed to purchase the property when it finally went up for sale.

More than two years ago, the Friends joined the Washington State Department of Transportation to acquire the property as part of a required mitigation that offset the environmental impact of the new HOV lanes on I-5.

During that time, Carrel said, his organization joined a collaboration of experts from the Department of Ecology, habitat biologists from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, wetlands advisory groups including CH2MHill, and the Puyallup Tribe, that shared notes on the project's objectives.

$24 million and 24 months later, WSDOT crews spent the weeks preceding Labor Day weekend toiling over the finishing touches that set the groundwork to restore and enhance the salmon and wildlife habitat for the most important stretch of Hylebos Creek.

Restoring the streambed to its original course ranked high on the list of goals advocates of the Spring Valley project. The human-altered course through which the creek flows spilled its banks easily during heavy rains and made travel down 373rd Street treacherous. The silty streambed made poor spawning habitat for salmon, which prefer gravel on which to lay their eggs.

The silt would periodically dam up the existing bridge and make traveling upstream difficult for larger fish like chinook.

A lack of streamside vegetation left young salmon vulnerable and denied adult salmon the cover they need from predators.

Mark Steingrebe, Field Examiner for WSDOT, said the new renovations, which include a new channel, culvert and road surface, will make a tremendous impact on the fate of the creek and its fish and wildlife.

"It's pretty exciting," Steingrebe said as he navigated the group through cacophony of roaring excavators and dump trucks. "We've got a thousand feet of brand new channel that will be open by next week."

Some heavy mid-August rains set his crew back a few days, but Steingrebe says the crew should "round up by labor day weekend."

"Before the fish window, we'll be done," he confirmed.

That's good, because TV viewers love a happy ending.