DESCRIPTION
This design grant will explore alternatives to build ELJs to restore and protect chinook spawning, rearing and holding habitat in order to recover self-sustaining salmonid runs to harvestable levels by addressing limiting factors of temperature, channel stability, and habitat diversity/quantity. The tributary confluence channels of Peat Bog and Bear Creeks are abundant chinook spawning grounds. This project will prevent the Middle Fork from capturing these tributaries, while improving the habitat of the distributary channels with pools with woody cover and riparian planting.
Lummi Nation used this grant to develop preliminary designs to build 27 ELJs and six post arrays between river miles 4.1 and 4.6 on the Middle Fork Nooksack River. This project is part of a larger, multi-phase restoration plan for the Porter Creek Reach. Five ELJ types are proposed as well as side channel inlet excavations on the right bank and riparian planting along Peat Bog Creek. The primary goal of this project is to restore and protect chinook spawning, rearing and holding habitat in order to recover self-sustaining salmonid runs to harvestable levels by addressing limiting factors of temperature, channel stability, and habitat diversity and quantity. To achieve this goal, this project will increase channel roughness and partition shear stress (improving stability), create more deep-water cover refugia (pools) and edge habitat, increase spawning gravel deposition and sorting, increase side channel habitat, increase floodplain connection, and improve stability of critical floodplain tributary habitat.
