DESCRIPTION
Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group and the Naches Ranger District propose placement of approximately 250-300 trees into tributary streams of the Little Naches River to improve spawning/rearing habitat for steelhead trout and Chinook salmon, and migratory/foraging habitat for bull trout. Approximately 2.5 miles of stream within Crow Creek and Quartz Creek would be treated. The proposed work would involve using hand crews to fell live trees up to 15 inches diameter at breast height (DBH) that are within 300 feet of the streams. The trees would be yarded for placement within stream channels and floodplains, using a variety of hand tools, jacks, winches, cable pulley systems, or mid-size machinery. Where feasible access allows, an all-terrain mobile walking excavator or similar machinery may be used for moving, winching, and cable yarding trees from the cutting areas for placement into stream channels. Standing dead trees > 15" DBH that could be directly felled into the floodplains of Crow or Quartz Creek may also be cut. Addition of large wood to the stream systems is expected to increase pool frequency and floodplain connection, and to trap spawning gravels.
Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group (MCF) and the Naches Ranger District placed approximately 271 trees into Crow and Quartz Creeks, tributary streams of the Little Naches River, in Kittitas and Yakima Counties.
In the lower 0.9 miles of Quartz Creek, MCF crews placed 63 trees >8 inch diameter breast height (dbh) and 5 dead snags >15 inch dbh. Quartz Creek slash material was not tracked. The wood additions to low gradient Quartz Creek have achieved the desired results: all the pieces placed in Quartz Creek remain in the project reach, and are facilitating natural riverine processes.
In the lower 1.3 miles of Crow Creek, MCF placed 106 trees greater than 8 inch dbh and harvested approximately 97 slash trees to place throughout the project reach. This slash material was any Grand Fir < 8in dbh that could be hand thrown into the system without the aid of grip-hoists. In this higher gradient system, a November 2022 flow event transported an estimated 72 pieces of wood downstream from the project site. An MCF drone flight in February 2023 displayed two large jams forming in the project reach, and additional wood being transported to the most downstream extent of the stream.
The goals of the project were to improve spawning/rearing habitat for steelhead trout and Chinook salmon, and migratory/foraging habitat for bull trout. MCF hand crews and a contractor felled 169 trees greater than 8 inches diameter-at-breast height (dbh) adjacent to the streams. Research on restoration with large woody material has shown the importance of adding 'slash' material to large woody debris jams and structures, and each project site was amply slashed to provide better quality habitat and structures. The insight and collaboration into the low-budget, low-tech grip-hoisting approach has sparked future project development and enthusiasm for adding wood in the Little Naches and its tributaries. MCF and the Yakama Nation are working with the Forest Service to plan the next phase of wood replenishment.