DESCRIPTION
The Nooksack Tribe will restore instream habitat in the South Fork Nooksack River, RM 10.5-11.1, near Acme in Whatcom County, to address South Fork (SF) Nooksack chinook limiting factors of lack of key habitat, low habitat diversity, and high temperatures. Specifically, this project will construct 15 log jams, lower and notch the right bank levee, and remove riprap blocking a left bank slough outlet, as part of the final of three phases of restoration in the broader Nesset reach (10.3-12). Log jams are designed to: (1) increase number and depth of pools; (2) increase habitat unit diversity and quantity of complex woody cover in the low-flow channel; (3) increase availability of temperature refuges; and (4) improve incubation success and flood refuge habitat by improving connectivity of floodplain and floodplain channels. SF Nooksack early Chinook are essential for ESU recovery, but abundances are critically low. This project implements high priority actions in a high priority reach for SF Nooksack early chinook. The reach is also expected to be
heavily used by Chinook returning to the Skookum hatchery (two miles upstream) as part of the South Fork Nooksack Chinook
population-rebuilding program. Restoration will also benefit ESA-listed steelhead and bull trout; coho, chum, riverine sockeye, and pink salmon;and cutthroat trout.
The Nooksack Tribe will restore instream habitat in the South Fork Nooksack River, RM 10.5-11.1, near Acme in Whatcom County, to address South Fork (SF) Nooksack chinook limiting factors of lack of key habitat, low habitat diversity, and high temperatures. Specifically, this project will construct 15 log jams, lower and notch the right bank levee, and remove riprap blocking a left bank slough outlet, as part of the final of three phases of restoration in the broader Nesset reach (10.3-12). Log jams are designed to: (1) increase number and depth of pools; (2) increase habitat unit diversity and quantity of complex woody cover in the low-flow channel; (3) increase availability of temperature refuges; and (4) improve incubation success and flood refuge habitat by improving connectivity of floodplain and floodplain channels. SF Nooksack early Chinook are essential for ESU recovery, but abundances are critically low. This project implements high priority actions in a high priority reach for SF Nooksack early chinook. The reach is also expected to be heavily used by Chinook returning to the Skookum hatchery (two miles upstream) as part of the South Fork Nooksack Chinook population-rebuilding program. Restoration will also benefit ESA-listed steelhead and bull trout; coho, chum, riverine sockeye, and pink salmon; and cutthroat trout.