Trout unlimited will design and install engineered log jams in reaches of the queets-clearwater watershed and perform riparian restoration treatments that include thinning and planting to provide…

This $10,000,000 federal Cooperative Agreement award, granted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Habitat Conservation Program (CFDA 11.463), supports Trout Unlimited, Inc. in designing and installing engineered log jams, as well as conducting riparian restoration treatments, in the Queets-Clearwater watershed. The project aims to increase wild coho salmon output, which was previously subject to a declared fisheries disaster, by restoring critical floodplain and side channel habitat. The award funds the installation of 57 engineered large wood structures across 5.61 miles of stream habitat, along with 100 acres of riparian restoration including thinning and planting. The Nature Conservancy is a sub-grantee and will assist with the procurement and delivery of large wood materials as well as conduct 100 acres of additional riparian habitat restoration on their own property. This targeted effort to improve fish habitat and restore old forest characteristics in the watershed is expected to be completed by September 30, 2028.

Trout unlimited will design and install engineered log jams in reaches of the queets-clearwater watershed and perform riparian restoration treatments that include thinning and planting to provide future shade, wood recruitment and restore old forest characteristics. The lack of stable wood and healthy riparian forests throughout the basin has caused extreme channel incision, disconnecting critical floodplain and side channel rearing habitat. This is a targeted effort to increase wild coho salmon output, which was the subject of a declared fisheries disaster and met the criteria for overfished status in 2018, and IT will benefit native chinook, chum, and steelhead.