FY18 Dungeness Floodplain Reconnection

This project helped advance the highest priority strategy (out of 10 key strategies) in the Dungeness chapter of the Puget Sound Chinook Recovery Plan: Restoration of the lower river floodplain and delta to increase the quantity of essential rearing and salt/freshwater transition habitat. Activities included managing design projects related to restoration of riparian/floodplain areas. In particular, funds helped support the Tribes on-the-ground project management of the Rivers Edge project, which will eventually set back the upper portion of the Army Corps of Engineers dike. Accomplishments included managing the construction of the new set-back levee (at the set-back location) and developing and acquiring the various related design and permitting products (design/engineering aspects were reported on in the Engineering/Design Worktype of Project ID 2018-JSKT-01, per NOAA recommendation). Design conceptions were also initiated for five ELJs to be installed in the added floodplain. The Tribe also initiated the purchase and related due diligence of Dungeness River riparian/floodplain parcel(s) for conservation. The Savage Trust property consists of a vacant 1.19-acre riparian parcel bordering the Dungeness River along its western boundary. The entire property is within the migration hazard zone of the river, and approximately 70 percent of the property lies within the floodplain for the Dungeness River. This acquisition arrived at the Escrow stage on 9/17/21, but most of the prior due diligence happened in late spring.

Portions of this project related to engineering/design work for the instream habitat restoration project (levee setback), including developing information necessary for permits and other requirements to implement the restoration project will be reported under the Salmonid Restoration Planning and Assessment Category. As such, please see the progress report for Project 2018-JSKT-01, under the Dungeness Levee worksite and Engineering/Design Worktype for corresponding achievements.

These projects are located in the lower 10 miles of the Dungeness River, and contribute to reach-scale riparian and floodplain restoration efforts.

This project aims to benefit threatened salmon species by reconnecting functional floodplain in the lower Dungeness River, allowing the River more room to meander and deposit sediments, and thereby restoring more complex and diverse habitat to support life history requirements. Moreover, the proposed approach of focusing floodplain protection/restoration on areas adjacent to already protected or restored areas provides a secondary benefit to migrating or rearing salmon by facilitating the restoration processes at a reach-scale level.