AMANDA PARK (Oct. 18, 2008)–Historically, Quinault River sockeye had more than 55 miles of spawning habitat from the mouth of Lake Quinault to the Olympic National Park border. Today there are fewer than 3 miles of spawning habitat corresponding with a precipitous drop in sockeye populations. Halting the erosion of remaining spawning habitat and creating more is a goal of the Quinault Indian Nation (QIN).
The QIN has completed a science-based habitat restoration plan designed to halt the degradation and create conditions for gradual improvement. The plan relies on the use of Engineered logjams to stabilize reaches of the river and advanced silvaculture methods to return mature forests to the floodplain. As part of that effort, the first 13 logjams are being installed now to protect one of the few remaining side channels that sockeye use to spawn near Lake Quinault. The $1.2 million project involved many partners and extensive cooperation from local landowners. Each jam will contain 200 pieces of wood, most of it provided by Olympic National Park. The trees were road blowdown from the massive December, 2007 wind storm. “Without essential spawning habitat, our other efforts to improve sockeye production will not be successful,” said Bill Armstrong, salmon resources biologist for QIN.
The Quinault River watershed is renowned for the blueback it produces. Sockeye (or blueback) are culturally and economically vital to the nation. Adult sockeye spawn in the tributaries and side channels of the upper Quinault River and their young rear in the lake for one or two years before migrating to the ocean.
Restoring the forest on 11 miles of barren floodplains of the upper Quinault River watershed is the goal of the ambitious, sockeye habitat restoration plan. “Past forest and land use practices removed much of the wood, destabilizing the river,” said Armstrong. “The river channel moves back and forth across the river valley much more rapidly and extensively than it did historically, which eliminated most of the best sockeye spawning habitat.”
To encourage the creation of stable logjams, QIN will engineer some structures in several locations that will later be planted with more than 5,000 native species of trees annually. Black cottonwood and fast-growing conifers such as sitka spruce and Douglas fir will be used. “These are native tree species to the watershed and the planting designs will help to re-create what the watershed looked like historically,” said Armstrong. “We want mature trees that will stabilize the floodplain and act as key pieces to form logjams that will stay in place and accumulate more wood. Stable logjams help create side channel spawning and rearing habitat and also become the foundation for more trees that help further stabilize the channel,” said Armstrong. A majority of the trees will be obtained from QIN’s own forest nursery.
“We want to show the residents in the watershed how these structures not only protect fish habitat, but protect private property by preventing erosion,” said Armstrong. “Several local residents are already assisting the project by providing access through their property or allowing storage of logs on their land.” Armstrong said the speed at which permits were obtained was also crucial to starting this year. “So many agencies were involved in the permit process and they all worked really hard to coordinate and finish the permits in record time,” said Armstrong.
“It’s encouraging to begin this project,” said Ed Johnstone, fisheries policy spokesperson for QIN. “We’re still working to finish raising the funds to finish this phase so we can get it all done now. It costs a lot to mobilize all this equipment, so getting it done all at once is important.” By completing two years of work in one season, QIN will save an estimated $130,000. “It’s part of the learning process of this pilot project,” said Larry Gilbertson, senior research scientist for QIN. “We had planned to complete eight or nine jams the first year, and then come back in the following year and complete that stretch of the river. But we saw the advantage and the possibility of completing it all in one season because we have most of the wood to do it,” said Gilbertson.
The pilot project is being paid for by three federal Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund grants, a state Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant, a federal grant from the U.S. Forest Service and a Jefferson County mitigation grant for salmon habitat lost from riprap installed on the South Shore Road. A key to future parts of the plan will be streamlining of the permit system. “Large parts of the permit language will be the same for each phase,” said Gilbertson. “We’re hoping to streamline work on the redundant parts of these many permits. This is already likely to be a 30 to 50-year construction timeline,” said Gilbertson. QIN took advantage of several new permitting programs that saved enough time that the pilot project could start this summer rather than in 2009. “It was a pleasant surprise to start this year,” said Gilbertson,
The logjams and forest restoration efforts complement other aspects of QIN’s sockeye salmon restoration efforts that include carefully controlling harvests, improving rearing habitat for sockeye in Lake Quinault and maintaining a sockeye hatchery supplementation program at the Lake Quinault Hatchery.
“Completing the floodplain reforestation component is critical to the long-term, natural process-based approach to salmon habitat restoration in the upper Quinault River valley,” said Armstrong.
