The project will restore ecological functions to two miles of privately owned Snoqualmie River bank plus the lower 1/3-mile of Cherry Creek, which presently flows in a trench. Both areas are
presently degraded pasture edge used by small numbers of Chinook, coho, chum, and pink salmon, steelhead, cutthroat trout, bull trout, the bird species that feed on them, plus other wildlife species.

For the first phase of restoration activity on these sites we propose a multi-component project including: (1) a feasibility study for restoration of the trenched reach of Cherry Creek; (2) a reach analysis and feasibility study for restoration of the river mainstem; (3) revegetation of one mile of the steep 15-foot high mainstem river bank; and (4) completing the ongoing project of planting one row of trees on 1.5-miles of river banktop pasture area. Future phases will include construction of the preferred alternatives identified in the two feasibility studies, completion of planting opportunities on the sites of these willing landowners, and extension of the riverbank planting to other sites in this reach when other willing landowners are identified. We expect this project will create opportunity for revegetating many miles of riverbank in the mouth reach of the Snoqualmie River.

The creek feasibility study will include consideration of widening the Cherry Creek bed, sloping back the Cherry Creek banks, and installing wood in the channel and on the banks of Cherry Creek. The river feasibility study will not investigate the possibility of sloping back the riverbank because the existing steep banks are the natural configuration for riverbank in this reach. Thus river restoration alternatives will probably be limited to consideration of riprap removal, planting, and various wood installation designs. Because without doubt planting the river banktop and riverbank will be requirements for restoration, and because those actions can proceed without permits, planting will proceed concurrently with the feasibility studies.

The analyses will include modeling the creek, river, and floodplain, to ensure the preferred alternatives will not make flooding or erosion worse in the Snoqualmie Valley including the Cherry Creek valley.

Deliverables of this first phase will include a river reach analysis, 30% designs for a preferred alternative of both the creek channel and the riverbank, documents for permitting both preferred alternatives, a report on an innovative bank planting technique utilizing a boat that will allow practical revegetation of many more miles of steep inaccessible riverbank, and a report documenting the planting accomplished and the success of the plants.

The proposed project is in the Mainstem-Primary Restoration Strategy Group, Snoqualmie Mouth sub-basin. Restoring the land of these two owners will improve edge complexity and riparian planting on a large enough length of riverbank to fulfill all the 10-year opportunity identified for this sub-basin in the Salmon Plan, plus a substantial segment of the sub-basin's most important tributary. The entire length of Cherry Creek that will be studied in this project is considered part of the Mainstem-Primary restoration strategy group, because it runs through the Snoqualmie River floodplain. This project will include a river reach analysis that will guide future restoration projects in many miles of the lower Snoqualmie River.