The Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) used this funding for the Middle Fork Nooksack Side Channel Improvement Project, which improved instream spawning and rearing habitat along a 3,500-foot-long spring-fed side channel of the Middle Fork Nooksack River near Deming, Whatcom County. The channel is currently used by spawning ESA-listed early Chinook, as well as wild spawning populations of coho, pink, and steelhead. The channel is located along an abandoned river meander bend and is supplied with 12 cfs of high quality, year-round spring-fed water flows. A 20' wide distributary channel connects the head of the project reach with the river, and before the project it transported occasional river flows during storm events. A 160 cfs flow was measured during a two-year storm event in 2002. Channel gradient ranges between 0.5% and 2.0 % and is characterized by riffles / glides armored with the 3"-12" cobble from the old riverbed. Before the project, infrequent pools were long and shallow with no large woody debris (LWD) cover. During the summer of 2003, NSEA placed approximately 140 pieces of LWD along approximately 2,500 feet of stream channel. Placement included single logs and multi-log complexes. During fall 2003, we experienced two 100-year flow events within the same month. These events greatly redistributed LWD locations and resulted in three large full-spanning jams at the downstream end of the project. Large pools were associated with the jams. In summer 2004, NSEA placed an additional 40 logs; these were placed in combination with the 2003 LWD, largely in 4-6 log complexes. The final result was 22 structures.