Phase IV

This project is part of a long term effort to improve salmon habitat in the mainstem Pysht River and its major tributaries. In this Phase 4 proposal, we propose to construct 35 engineered log jams in the mainstem Pysht River between river mile 5.0-7.0. The project will occur on a combination of private ownerships including lands conserved by North Olympic Land Trust using SRFB funding. Since 1994, Merrill and Ring, several private landowners and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe have conducted a series of cooperative restoration projects focusing on large wood and riparian restoration at multiple sites in the watershed. On the SF Pysht River(Phase 1), large wood has been added to ten reaches between river mile 0.5-7.0.On the mainstem Pysht River, large wood(Phase 2) has been added on two reaches(river miles 7.0-9.0 and 10.0-11.5). Monitoring has shown that these projects have been successful in restoring channel and riparian habitat features favored by salmon for spawning and rearing. Because of historic logging and stream cleaning practices, the entire watershed is considered chronically deficient in in-channel LWD (McHenry et al. 1994, WRIA 19 Salmon Recovery Plan). Additionally, the age and composition of riparian forests is currently not adequate to support habitat forming processes.

Phase III

This project is part of a long term effort to improve salmon habitat in the mainstem Pysht River and its major tributaries. In this Phase 3 proposal, we propose to construct 35 engineered logjams in the mainstem Pysht River between river mile 7.0-9.0. The project will occur on a combination of ownerships including lands recently purchased for conservation by North Olympic Land Trust using SRFB funding. Since 1994, Merrill and Ring and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe have conducted a series of cooperative restoration projects focusing on in-channel LWD and riparian restoration at multiple sites in the watershed. On the SF Pysht River (Phase 1), LWD has been added to ten reaches between river mile 0.5-7.0. On the mainstem Pysht River, LWD (Phase 2) has been added on one reach (river mile10.0-11.5). Monitoring has shown that these projects have been successful in restoring channel and riparian habitat features favored by salmon for spawning and rearing. Because of historic logging and stream cleaning practices, the entire watershed is considered chronically deficient in in-channel LWD (McHenry et al. 1994, WRIA 19 Salmon Recovery Plan). Additionally, the age and composition of riparian forests is currently not adequate to support habitat forming processes.