DESCRIPTION
This project would perform a reach-scale assessment of the Greenwater River between river mile 2 and 4 to identify limiting factors and prescribe restoration treatments to restore instream complexity and floodplain connectivity. The overall goal of the project is to rehabilitate lost processes provided by large instream wood accumulations of benefit to adult spawning and juvenile rearing salmon populations on the Greenwater River. The objective of this project phase is prescribe restoration treatments to address factors limiting salmon habitat, water quality, and floodplain connectivity. Project methods seek to inventory existing wood loading rates, assess habitat quantity and quality, map existing geomorphic features, and assess existing hydraulic conditions. Specific assessment methods and restoration designs will be developed based on input from project stakeholders including: Muckleshoot Tribe, Puyallup Tribe, Forest Service, Pierce County Lead Entity, and King County. This proposed phase 4 project builds upon work completed in 2010, 2011, and 2014 on upper sections of the Greenwater River between river mile 6 and 8 with the installation of 17 log jams and removal of 1 mile of road from the floodplain. The structures placed by cumulative project efforts will provide interim, functional habitat on the Greenwater River in the 2 mile project reach.
The South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group will use this grant to place up to five logjams upstream of the U.S. Forest Service Road 7010 bridge in the Greenwater River, which forms the border between Pierce and King Counties. The logjams will help widen and slow the river to improve habitat for salmon species such as steelhead and Chinook. The logjams will recreate habitat conditions that existed before the area was logged and the river was cleared of fallen wood. In addition, crews will remove up to 0.5 mile of U.S. Forest Service Road 70 to assist with improving the river's floodplain function. The enhancement group will contribute $85,600 in donated labor, materials and other grants.
