FY21 JSKT Dungeness Salmonid Recovery and Riparian Habitat Restoration Planning and Coordination

This on-going planning assisted our habitat and environmental planning programs in developing and coordinating with partners on projects to advance ESA-listed salmonid habitat in our focus watersheds. Tasks included planning necessary to implement riparian and floodplain habitat restoration and protection projects, technical assistance to partners designing and implementing such projects, and other coordination efforts for ESA-listed salmonid recovery and watershed restoration, including those appointed by JST to the Point-No-Point Treaty Council.



[Worksite: JST Admin/NR Offices] - Note, the actual start date was April 2023, following the end date of the corresponding task in FY2020 award.

1) JST continued to research and plan for potential restoration/conservation riparian properties along the Dungeness River corridor and participated in restoration planning or design for projects on the Dungeness River, Big Quilcene River and Lower Big Quilcene. [Worktype: Coord. on implementing recovery plan]

2) Staff participated in drought-response meetings, both internally and among Dungeness watershed partners to develop strategies to mitigate fish passage issues in Lower Dungeness River. Staff assisted partners with planning elements of Big Quilcene restoration project and large woody debris installation on the Dungeness Rivers Edge project (in coordination with Clallam County). [Worktype: Eval. & analyses of restoration projects]

3a) The Tribe continued to co-lead the Dungeness River Management Team in monthly meetings, which included discussions on drought, water supplies, potential Dungeness Off-channel Reservoir Project, and more; as well as site visits to proposed and completed projects along the Dungeness. [Worktypes: Coordination on implementing Recovery Plans; Eval. and analyses of restoration projects.]



[Worksite: Point-No-Point Treaty Council (Treaty Council) Offices]

3b) Point No Point Treaty Council staff extended our salmonid recovery capacity by: 1) assisting in riparian salmonid habitat protection and restoration planning; 2) refining and implementing the ESA-listed PS Steelhead Recovery Plan and implementing the HCCC Hood Canal/Strait of Juan de Fuca Summer Chum Salmon Recovery Plan through adaptive management; 3) designing projects that address factors limiting the productivity and viability of ESA-listed Pacific anadromous salmonids, 4) using climate-related streamflow and temp. models to ID vulnerabilities to salmon habitat; and, 5) participating in other recovery forums, processes and initiatives focused on improving salmonid productivity and viability in the region.

[Worktypes: Coord. on implementing Recovery Plan; Eval. and analyses of restoration projects.

This project continues to assist with providing capacity support so that the Tribe’s Habitat Program and Environmental Planning Program staff may continue habitat restoration planning efforts largely aimed at riparian and floodplain restoration, which is necessary to promote salmonid/treaty resource recovery. Staff will plan and coordinate on the following types of measures to treat degraded habitats: riparian reforestation, log-jam installation, side-channel creation, and the removal or relocation of bulkheads, dikes, and other anthropogenic structures. Floodplain reconnection is our (as well as the Dungeness River Management Team’s) highest priority for increasing salmonid spawning and rearing habitat, and for reducing the potential for high flood events to scour salmon redds, projected to be more frequent with climate change, particularly in river reaches constrained by hard armoring or dikes. Treaty Council efforts allow us to extend our planning and coordinating capacity to regional efforts.