NF Nooksack (Xwqélém) Maple Reach Ph2 Restoration

The Nooksack Indian Tribe will restore mainstem riverine and associated floodplain habitats in the North Fork Nooksack River, RM 50.1-50.5, near Maple Falls, Whatcom County, Washington (see Vicinity Map attached as Restoration Worksite Map in PRISM). The project constitutes Phase 2 of restoration in the broader Maple Creek Reach (RM 49.8 - 50.6) of the North Fork Nooksack River, located near and upstream of the Maple Creek confluence. A total of 18 log jams (6 type 1, 7 type 2, 4 type 3) and 55 feet of flood fencing (in-stream structure #18) will be constructed proposed (see SitePlan attached as Restoration Site Plan in PRISM); log jams and disturbed areas will be planted with native vegetation. The overall goal is to restore stable spawning and rearing habitat to improve abundance and productivity of North Fork/Middle Fork Nooksack Early Chinook Salmon, which are considered essential for recovery of the ESA-listed Puget Sound Chinook ESU. The project is in a high priority reach and implements high priority strategies for restoration. The project also builds on previous acquisition, design, and restoration work funded by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. Source of matching funds is Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission PCSRF and we have ensured that there is no duplication of metrics reporting by working with Dietrich Schmidt at NWIFC.

The primary goal of restoration in the Maple reach is to address early chinook limiting factors of high channel instability, lack of key habitat, and reduced habitat diversity by restoring habitat conditions and addressing the root causes of habitat degradation, namely the lack of large stable log jams that form and maintain forested islands, floodplain and associated side channels. Restoration is designed to benefit Nooksack early chinook egg-to emergence and early rearing survival by restoring stable side channels that can be used for spawning, which will in turn increase population productivity and ultimately increase both spawning densities in the reach and overall population spawner abundance. There will be collateral benefits to other species that use the reach (steelhead, bull trout, coho, chum, sockeye, pink, cutthroat trout).