With this grant the Quinault Indian Nation was able to receive engineered designs to decommission the road and restore fish passage to a pond to allow hydraulic and fish connectivity to the Quinault River in Grays Harbor County. The F-15 roadbed and a 36” culvert were installed through a wetland in the floodplain of the Quinault River. The undersized, plugged culvert contains a beaver dam and the road prism is blocking fish passage. Upstream of the culvert is a 2.2 acre wetland with suitable Coho rearing habitat. Downstream is a 7 acre wetland that forms a channel and flows into the Lower Quinault River. By reestablishing fish passage, the wetland will be utilized for rearing habitat. The designs are to remove the road prism and install an open channel. This channel will allow fish access to the pond while also holding the pond water level at a desired height. Based on the presence of coho, high species diversity, and complexity of the ecosystem, the Quinault River has been designated as one of the highest priorities in the WRIA 21 Strategy. Also, the floodplains of the Lower Quinault River contain a vast amount of Coho rearing habitat. The WRIA 21 Strategy Table 3 states the recovery action for the Quinault River Coho, Page 11 as “Habitat Connectivity and Off-Channel Rearing Habitat”. This project has been funded for the construction phase for summer 2012. The construction project is #11-1395.