DESCRIPTION
The Quinault Indian Nation completed construction-level (final) bridge and channel improvement designs for two fish passage barrier culverts. The barriers are located on two unnamed tributaries to the the Salmon River. Salmon River is a tributary to the Queets River in Grays Harbor County. The tributaries merge into one stream downstream of the barriers and enter the river at RM ~3.5. The project was located on Pete Wahwassuk Road in the Quinault Indian Reservation in Grays Harbor County. When constructed, coho salmon (rearing) and cutthroat trout (spawning and rearing) will benefit from improved access to about 1-mile of habitat upstream of the bridges. Upper reaches of both tributaries are located on terraces above the Salmon River floodplain so they drop in elevation from upstream to downstream reaches. Channel improvement designs to address channel bed slope associated with the elevation change included a roughened channel and removal of stream choking woody debris to improve fish passage to the new bridge crossings. The design when implemented will help to improve instream habitat conditions in the affected tributary reaches and downstream to the river.