The purpose of the Fender Mill Floodplain Restoration project was to restore floodplain function, reduce the risk of fish stranding and improve rearing habitat for spring Chinook salmon, summer steelhead, and bull trout. By removing some remains of the Fender sawmill and the Rockview irrigation ditch from the floodplain, the project enhances natural river processes and floodplain function and reduces the post-freshet fish stranding risk. The overriding consideration throughout project development was to use the least intrusive methods possible to obtain these objectives.

The Fender Mill project incorporated the following objectives:
1. Eliminate potential stranding of juvenile Chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout, and other aquatic species by blocking the intake to the abandoned Rockview irrigation ditch , obliterating the fish bypass and fish screen bay and improving existing return channel to the Methow River.
2. Improve off-channel rearing and refuge habitat for juvenile spring Chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout, and other aquatic species.
3. Extend and enhance the upstream reach-level benefits of the recently completed Hancock Springs restoration project.
4. Restore and improve riparian habitat by allowing river access and rewatering of riparian habitat along abandoned side channel.
5. Maintain nearby quality off-channel habitat by restoring and reconnecting wetlands, flood plains, side channels, and other off-channel habitat with increased floodwater dispersal.
6. Allow for the continuation of riparian habitat restoration processes by eliminating the need for powerline maintenance access.

Restoration objectives were met by completing the following project elements:
-Clearing and stripping vegetation as minimally as possible to complete project.
-Partial demolition of the fish screen by collapsing and burying the concrete walls in place, except the west wall remaining as a retaining wall for highway protection, and removal of metal work around the screen and scattered in the project area.
-Excavating a channel through the old mill pond dam and removing remnants of the concrete spillway and using the excavated materials to protect the adjacent highway from high flows and cover the collapsed walls of the fish screen.
-Removing woody debris located within the existing channel to allow for stream flow and fish passage and relocating debris in surrounding floodplain as habitat structures.
-Closing and permanently sealing abandoned headworks located upstream under the Weeman Bridge.
-Relocating power lines and poles out of seasonally active side channel.
The photos show the work to reopen channel access, cover the Rockview ditch screen debris and prevention of access to stranding areas.