DESCRIPTION
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will use this grant to place 300 key pieces of large, woody materials in more than 5 miles of Sadie Creek, East Twin River and Deep Creek. Large wood will be added using helicopters. Although the streams have had previous large wood restoration treatments, a state science team recommended additional wood placements to further improve salmon habitat. Project partners include Merrill & Ring, Rayonier Forest Resources L.P., and the Washington Department of Natural Resources. The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will contribute $80,000 in donated labor.
This proposal provides additional needed watershed scale treatments in the Strait of Juan de Fuca complex of streams that are part of the Intensively Monitored Watershed Project (IMW). The IMW project is part of a statewide monitoring strategy adopted by the Salmon Funding Recovery Board to assess the effectiveness of habitat restoration on fish production at the watershed scale. East and West Twin River and Deep Creek are included into the IMW study plan because of the commitment to watershed restoration and monitoring of salmon production by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Large wood was added using helicopter placement techniques at selected reaches in Sadie Creek (RM 0-2.5) and East Twin River (RM 0.2-1.2) in 2011, and in Deep Ck (RM 1.75-3.0) in 2012, 2013, and 2014. East Twin River and Deep Creek have received active restoration efforts since 1998 including barrier correction, riparian revegetation, large wood placement, road abandonment, and creation of off-channel habitats. Although the reaches identified have had previous large wood restoration treatments, the IMW science team believes additional wood placements are necessary to bring wood loadings toward target levels. We proposed adding 300 key pieces over the 5.2 miles of streams identified. In reality we were able to place over 550 pieces of wood in approximately 4.0 miles of IMW stream channels. The treatments in Deep Creek ended up being more robust per stream mile because of difficult gemorphic conditions. In the experience of this restoration practioner more is always better, particularly in the case of large wood projects. The issue of scale is significant and our existing indicators (watershed analysis targets) of what represents functioning conditions is (in my experience) conservative. The good news is that we now see an endpoint on restoration actions in the SJF IMW watersheds. That endpoint is one additional LWD helicopter project for Deep Creek (RM 0.2-1.2). These can be accomplished on two days of flight time and one additional SRFB request. That request is expected in the 2016 grant round.