FY2019 Nooksack Tribe Priority Project Implementation and Maintenance

This project will support construction of priority Nooksack chinook habitat restoration projects. In particular, this project is expected to contribute all or part of the required 15% match for a project or projects funded by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. Specific projects will be contingent upon funding availability and need, but the anticipated worksite is:



• SF Nooksack Homesteader Reach Restoration. Restoration will restore instream habitat in the South Fork Nooksack River, Homesteader Reach (RM 5.4-6.5), downstream of Acme in Whatcom County, to address South Fork Nooksack chinook limiting factors of high temperatures and low habitat diversity. Conceptual design is in development, and costs and total number of structures to be constructed are rough estimates. We anticipate seeking around $944,962 in WA State Salmon Recovery Funding Board funding (to provide 85% of project cost) including Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration funding); PCSRF FY19 funding would contribute the remaining 15% of project costs. If funded with PCSRF funding to the Salmon Recovery Funding Board, the Nooksack Tribe, RCO, and NWIFC will have dialogue to ensure that treatment metrics are not duplicated. Initially, NWIFC reporting will only propose 15% of total project metrics.



Project description will be updated and worksites added or deleted project develops. An alternative worksite is:



• NF Nooksack Maple Reach Restoration. Restoration will restore instream habitat in the North Fork Nooksack River, Maple Reach (RM 49.8-50.1), near Maple Falls in Whatcom County, to address North/Middle Fork (NF/MF) Nooksack chinook limiting factors of high channel instability and low habitat diversity as part of the first of two phases of restoration. Specifically, the design involves construction of 8 large apex jams, 6 medium apex jams, 8 floodplain roughness structures, and 300’ of floodplain fence. Estimated total Phase 1 project cost is $1,700,000. Secured funding sources include: (1) WA State Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant, Project #19-1395 $578,800; (2) $119,607 BIA Endangered Species funding; and (3) $149,051 PCSRF FY18 funding. Current funding shortfall is $847,156, and we are seeking Critical Stocks funding and/or NRCS EQIP funding to fill that gap. If we are not successful, we shall reprogram the project to cover this worksite, providing 10% of funding. If that is the case and if the Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant is funded with PCSRF funding to the Salmon Recovery Funding Board, the Nooksack Tribe, RCO, and NWIFC will have dialogue to ensure that treatment metrics are not duplicated. Initially, NWIFC reporting will only propose 10% of metrics.

***Note: North Fork Nooksack Maple Reach Restoration is substantially complete as of 2/2/2024. No funding will be allocated to this alternative.

South Fork Nooksack and North Fork/Middle Fork Nooksack early chinook are essential for ESU recovery, but wild abundances and productivity are critically low. Restoring instream habitat in the South Fork and North Fork Nooksack River through the construction of historic-scale engineered log jams is an important strategy to improve abundance and productivity in the near term.



The primary goal of restoration in the SF Nooksack Homesteader Reach is to improve habitat conditions to address early chinook limiting factors of high temperatures, low habitat diversity, and lack of key habitat by restoring habitat conditions and addressing the root causes of habitat degradation, namely the lack of large stable log jams that form and maintain complex pool habitat. Restoration is designed to benefit Nooksack early chinook holding and rearing survival by restoring deep complex pools that can function as refuges from high temperatures and improve juvenile rearing productivity; there will be collateral benefits to other species that use the reach (steelhead, bull trout, coho, chum, sockeye, pink, cutthroat trout). The objective of the project is to place engineered log jams in order to form deep primary pools with complex cover. This project is expected to lead to measurable improvement in the following habitat viability and project effectiveness indicators (Nooksack Chinook Monitoring and Adaptive Management Framework): pool frequency, natural and woody edge habitat length, number of stable log jams, and low and high flow cover.



The primary goal of restoration in the NF Nooksack Maple Reach is to improve habitat conditions to address early chinook limiting factors of high channel instability and low habitat diversity by restoring habitat conditions and addressing the root causes of habitat degradation, namely the lack of large stable log jams that form and maintain forested islands, floodplain and associated side channels. Restoration is designed to benefit Nooksack early chinook egg-to emergence and early rearing survival by restoring stable side channels; there will be collateral benefits to other species that use the reach (steelhead, bull trout, coho, chum, sockeye, pink, cutthroat trout). The objective of the project is to place engineered log jams and stabilize existing log jams in order to stabilize alluvial bars and increase pool frequency, edge habitat, complex cover, and connectivity to stable side channel habitats with suitable spawning areas. This project is expected to lead to measurable improvement in the following habitat viability and project effectiveness indicators (Nooksack Chinook Monitoring and Adaptive Management Framework): pool frequency, natural and woody edge habitat length, floodplain forest, riparian forest stand age, forested islands, number of stable log jams, low and high flow cover, and side channel/braid-main channel ratio.