Using Washington Department of Ecology funding, a steering committee working to restore aquatic ecosystems in the Chehalis Basin is directing $4.7 million in state grants to fund 20 aquatic habitat restoration projects.
There are nine projects in Grays Harbor County, and others in Lewis, Mason and Thurston counties, ranging from on-the-ground efforts to acquire land, remove fish passage barriers, install woody debris favorable for spawning habitat, and relocating and restoring stream channels, to designing large-scale habitat restoration plans. Some grants are aimed at helping local organizations develop and implement new habitat projects.
Project funding also will help support about 60 part- and full-time jobs, while volunteers are expected to contribute more than 800 hours, according to a joint statement from Ecology and the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“It’s exciting to see a variety of priority projects receive funding,” said Emelie McKain, Fish and Wildlife aquatic species restoration plan manager. “In addition to restoring important habitat, these projects will benefit communities in the basin by creating jobs, and improving local water quality and floodplain functions, while offering resiliency to climate change impacts.”
Projects in Grays Harbor County include:
• Camp Creek fish passage restoration: Design and construction funds to replace fish passage barrier with a bridge.
• Udder Place East Fork Satsop acquisition, phase 1: Acquisition of 155 acres and three-quarters mile of East Fork Satsop riverfront, with expectation of future restoration.
• Lower Chehalis River floodplain, Davis Creek Wildlife Area unit expansion: Acquire 85 acres of native riparian and floodplain habitat including a mile of off-channel sloughs.
• Tree Fever property conservation easement: Purchase 136-acre conservation easement on a mile of West Fork Satsop River in managed forest.
• Lower Chehalis project development: Convene landowners in a series of discussions to identify willingness for Aquatic Species Restoration Plan projects; develop conceptual projects for floodplain nodes based on community-driven ideas and willingness.
• Olympic Mountains ecological region timber landowner project development: Build partnerships with forest landowners on the Humptulips, Satsop and Wynoochee rivers to develop prioritized conceptual plans for instream wood loading projects.
• Lower Satsop restoration and protection program phase 2, habitat connectivity and reach-scale aquatic, riparian and floodplain restoration project: Further design on the multi-phase Lower Satsop restoration and protection program.
• Satsop River mile 2.5-5.0 design project: Project development for a reach-scale project in Satsop River mainstem.
• Still Creek, Satsop River design project: Identify sites for instream wood-loading projects in managed forests, and develop preliminary design of artificial log jams that mimic beaver dams.
McKain said the aquatic species restoration projects are expected to protect up to 414 acres of riverside and floodplain habitat; a mile of off-channel habitat and 2.25 miles of riverbank. The projects will restore 15 acres of riverside habitat, 0.7 miles of instream habitat and more than 10 miles of accessible streams for migrating fish.
The steering committee selecting restoration projects is made up of representatives from the Quinault Indian Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The projects are part of the broader Chehalis Basin aquatic species restoration plan that supports the Chehalis Basin Strategy to restore aquatic species habitat while reducing flood-related damage in the Chehalis Basin.
