DESCRIPTION
This project will restore the quantity and quality of habitat accessible to salmon and steelhead in Gheer Creek by restoring fish passage at Carlisle Lake, at Deggler Pond, an in-stream pond located upstream of the lake, and at an abandoned railroad crossing on South Fork Gheer Creek. Doing so will restore a self-sustaining wild salmon and steelhead population to Gheer Creek while providing an excellent outreach and education opportunity for the community. Preliminary design drawings suitable for development of all required permit applications, and review by regulatory agencies (local, state, federal, tribal) have already been completed (Gheer Creek Preliminary Design Drawings, December 2015).
This restoration project will design, permit, and construct fish passage at four existing barriers within Gheer Creek, tributary to the South Fork Newaukum River near Onalaska, WA. The four sites are 1) dam at the outlet of Carlisle Lake, 2) a barrier culvert at the upper end of the lake, 3) a dam at the outlet of a small in-stream pond off Deggler Road upstream of Carlisle Lake, and 4) an abandoned railroad crossing barrier culvert on the South Fork of Gheer Creek. These barriers currently limit Gheer Creek’s productivity for migratory fish including coho salmon, chinook salmon, chum salmon, steelhead, and sea-run cutthroat trout. The project goal is to improve wild fish access to over ten miles of habitat that has been blocked for several decades, restoring a self-sustaining wild salmon and steelhead population to Gheer Creek while providing an excellent outreach and education opportunity for the community. In addition to implementing fish passage improvements, Wild Fish Conservancy will work long-term with WA Department of Fish and Wildlife to ensure hatchery practices in Gheer Creek are compatible with wild fish recovery efforts there.
