Allen’s Marsh/Old Joe’s Slough Fish Passage Enhancement

This project partially supported the replacement of 3 impassable culverts on the St. Regis Road, bordering Allen’s Marsh to the south which is situated in the Hoh drainage. A pre-cast concrete bridge and a 128”x 83” pipe arch culvert replaced the existing culverts and included channel reconfiguration to promote connectivity wetland habitat. As result of the project the 22.8-acre forested wetland, known as Allen’s Marsh, was reconnected to the 15.5-acre wetland complex downstream known as Old Joe’s Slough, which flows directly into the Hoh River. This project will provide critical overwintering habitat for coho and steelhead. PCSR FY-2015 funding was used for contracted services administered by DNR, for implementation of these three culverts replacements at the southern end of Allen’s Marsh. The project was conceived to support staff salaries and benefits for Hoh Tribe Natural Resources staff and technicians, involved with coordination of the project, however these efforts were ultimately funded through other funding sources resulting in a balance of $112,304, which are intended to be redirected to another high priority tribal habitat implementation project.

Extensive fisheries research conducted on western Olympic Peninsula river systems has established that stable off-channel habitat is essential for over-winter survival of juvenile wild coho populations. Wall-base channels and their associated swamps and ponds are heavily colonized by juvenile coho as they abandon nursery areas during initial fall freshets. As documented by Hoh tribal fisheries smolt trapping data, Old Joe’s Slough is heavily utilized by coho and other salmonid species economically and culturally important to the Hoh Tribe. Re-connection of these two forested wetlands will provide a total of nearly 40 acres of state-owned off channel habitat, vital for the continued survival of juvenile coho as annual summer drought conditions become increasingly severe.