Lower South Fork Grays River Restoration

The Cowlitz Indian Tribe enhanced the spawning and rearing habitat for winter steelhead and coho by installing 27 engineered log jams throughout 0.4 miles of the lower South Fork Grays River and helicopter-placed 110 whole trees 900 feet of Blaney Creek in Pacific County. The log jams created stable islands to scour pools and provide local cover while also fostering a mature floodplain forest. The Tribe planted 8,500 trees to provide a future large wood source and increasing the amount of shade though the 19.5 acre project reach. The location of this restoration project provides substantial on-site benefits to habitat, while simultaneously addressing high levels of sediment delivery to downstream Grays River reaches critical to steelhead, coho, chum, and fall Chinook. This was the implementation phase of a design project funded by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) during 2013. The Cowlitz Tribe leveraged Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) and Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) funds to match the SRFB funds in this Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) agreement. The Tribe has pro-rated project metrics between the two funding sources to prevent double-counting in the PCSRF or RCO (PRISM) database. The Tribe, RCO, and PCSRF staff have discussed and agreed to divide metrics between funding pathways to prevent redundancy; RCO will report approximately half of the restoration metrics to PCSRF while the Tribe will report the remaining half. For example, while the total stream length treated (C.0.b) for the project is 0.77 miles, the PCSRF database for award NA16NMF4380335 reflects half of that number: 0.385 miles, rounded to the nearest hundredth of a mile: 0.39. etrics are reported seperately to NOAA through grant year 2016.



The Tribe has pro-rated project metrics between the two funding sources to prevent double-counting in the PCSRF or RCO (PRISM) database. The Tribe, RCO, and PCSRF staff have discussed and agreed to divide metrics between funding pathways to prevent redundancy; RCO will report approximately half of the restoration metrics to PCSRF while the Tribe will report the remaining half. For example, while the total stream length treated (C.0.b) for the project is 0.77 miles, the PCSRF database for award NA16NMF4380335 reflects half of that number: 0.385 miles, rounded to the nearest hundredth of a mile: 0.39. etrics are reported seperately to NOAA through grant year 2016.

The Cowlitz Indian Tribe proposes to enhance spawning and rearing habitat for winter steelhead and coho by installing engineered log jams throughout 0.6 miles of the lower South Fork Grays River and 900 of Blaney Creek in Pacific County. The logjams will allow stable island formation, provide local cover, foster mature flood plain forest, and encourage sediment sorting and deposition. Riparian re-planting efforts will provide long term shade and wood supply for the reach.This project provides substantial on-site benefits to habitat, while simultaneously addressing high levels of sediment delivery to downstream Grays River reaches critical to steelhead, coho, chum, and fall Chinook.