Ozette Sockeye Recovery - Big River Acquisition

The Big River acquisition project addressed many of the limiting factors associated with the decline of the ESA listed Lake Ozette sockeye through the protection of 36 acres of riparian and floodplain habitat, 0.44 river miles of Big river tributary to Umbrella Bay. The following properties were purchased.
· Barber
- 31 acres
- 0.34mi Big River protected
- Associated floodplain habitat protected
- Wetland habitat protected
- Channel migration zone protection
· Brady:
- 5 acres
- 0.10mi Big River protected
- 0.08mi perennial stream to overwintering wetland habitat protected

The project prohibits further habitat modification and floodplain development that are causal mechanisms of the ESA (4)(a)(1)(1) threats listing factor. The acquisition of land from willing sellers is also identified as a primary action strategy to combat chronic sediment introduction to NMFS designated critical habitat from adverse land use and road related impacts.

An integrative recovery strategy is based on current research about the relationships between watershed processes, land use, and freshwater habitat that incorporates all ecological processes impacting sockeye survival. The result is a hierarchy of types of recovery strategies that can form the basis for setting priorities among potential actions.This project is a Tier I recovery strategy in the recovery planning action hierarchy, and is identified as a Priority I subbasin in the Ozette subbasin recovery prioritization.

The goal of the project was to protect intact habitat from degradation. The objective of the project was to protect salmon refugia and habitat that is part of a key ecological process. This goal was accomplished with acquisition of the property by the Land Trust, who is now managing it as wildlife habitat.