Cowlitz Tribe Abernathy Creek Wisconsin Site Project

The Cowlitz Indian Tribe completed a restoration project to place channel spanning log jams, smaller wood accumulations, and pre-excavate side channels to increase the quality and quantity of spawning and juvenile rearing habitat for Washington Coast steelhead and Lower Columbia coho in Abernathy Creek near Longview, Cowlitz County. Log jams will sort and accrete gravel suitable for spawning, and will encourage off-channel and side channel habitat development.

The project site is in a high priority stream reach for salmon and steelhead recovery; a group of local experts has identified the project as a priority action through the Intensively Monitored Watershed (IMW) implementation process (LCFRB 2009). The project would re-establish and enhance two relict side channels on Abernathy Creek; aggrade gravel on the incised, plane-bed mainstem; and increase wood-forced complexity throughout the stream reach. Improving off-channel and margin habitat will benefit a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial species, but the focus of this project is to benefit Lower Columbia coho (O. kisutch) and Southwest Washington steelhead (O. mykiss) by addressing factors limiting their productivity.