DESCRIPTION
The North Olympic Salmon Coalition will restore 20 acres of degraded riparian habitat along 1.5 river miles on multiple properties in WRIA 19, Clallam County. Many watersheds within WRIA 19 have degraded riparian habitats that are overwhelmingly dominated by deciduous trees or invasive species. These degraded conditions have impacted water quality, sedimentation and conifer LWD recruitment. NOSC will engage willing riparian landowners, including Hoko State Park, in order to increase the quantity and quality of riparian forest along rivers and streams to benefit spawning and rearing habitat for chinook, coho, steelhead and chum salmon, as well as cutthroat and rainbow trout.
The Salmon Coalition and it's contracted WCC crew treated/restored just under 23 acres of degraded riparian habitat on 1.41 river miles of properties in WRIA 19. Due to COVID and difficulties in landowner outreach, we requested and were granted an extension for this project. This region is very rural, with landowner contacts hard to come by. Methods used in other WRIA regions (WRIA 18 for example) such as knocking on doors, were made difficult due to the remoteness of the area and a reluctance of some residents to cooperate with a State-affiliated entity. Restoration activities included invasive weed treatment, thinning of overly dense, Sitka spruce dominated former riparian plantings, and planting of native riparian trees and shrubs. Work took place on several properties along the Pysht, Clallam, and Hoko Rivers. While we exceeded the 'Total Riparian Acres Treated' metric (20 acres proposed, 22.8 acres treated), we fell slightly short on the ''Miles of Stream and/or Shoreline Treated or Protected' (1.50 proposed, 1.41 accomplished), 'Total Riparian Miles Streambank Treated' (1.50 proposed, 1.41 accomplished), and 'Miles of Streambank Planted' (1.50 proposed, 1.12 accomplished). The only metric that fell significantly short was 'Acres Planted in Riparian' (20 acres proposed, 13.6 accomplished). Shortcomings could be attributed to the remoteness of WRIA 19 and difficulty in identifying willing landowners. The 'Acres Planted in Riparian' metric fell significantly short primarily due to the lack of need for plantings at the worksites.
