Tahuya River - WRIA 15.0446

The Tahuya River watershed is 45.1 square miles with 21 miles mainstem and about 64.9 miles of tributaries. It originates in Green Mountains plateau, flows through Lake Tahuya, through gently rolling hills with low to moderate gradient, through a broad alluvial valley to the estuary. Tributaries with numerous wetlands help to moderate flow, although many smaller tributaries go dry in summer and even winter. A characteristic of the Tahuya River floodplain is the natural abundance of Everett Gravelly Loamy Sand soil type (USDA Soil Survey for Mason County) which consists of mostly gravel (characteristic of glacial till) and lesser amounts of fines. This is important when considering the type of riparian vegetation that naturally occurs along the river.

Stock Status: See salmon distribution maps, stock charts, documents (right side of screen).
Federally listed (threatened) – HC/ESJF summer chum extirpated but with rearing (extinct in 2002 SaSI); Puget Sound Chinook salmon rearing and spawning (but not identified as a stock in 2002 SaSI)
Depressed – winter steelhead (2002 SaSI)
Healthy – coho, fall chum (2002 SaSI)
NOTE: Chinook supplementation project has been discontinued; summer chum reintroduction program using Union River stock began in 2003; summer chum distribution could go to RM 8

Land Use: State and private timber harvest; Tahuya ORV trail system; agriculture; rural residential development

Factors for Decline: Shoreline development and associated bulkheads, fill, erosion, docks and loss of shoreline vegetation; residential development around natural lakes, reservoirs and wetlands; forestry and associated roads contributing to increased peak winter flows, decreased summer flows, and increased sedimentation; agriculture; loss of LWD; loss of species diversity within the riparian buffer; elevated water temps due to loss of riparian buffer; channel instability.

For all references and an expanded version of this description see the Hood Canal Coordinating Council’s Salmon Habitat Recovery Strategy for the Hood Canal and Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, version 09-2005. http://hccc.wa.gov/Downloads/Downloads_GetFile.aspx'id=116447&fd=0