Welch- Unnamed trib to Wishkah River R6

The purpose of the Welch project is to replace an undersized 4 ft. round steel culvert that has a 2 ft. outfall drop at the downstream end. The replacement will be a 65 ft bridge, 14 ft. wide. This un-named tributary to the Upper Wishkah offers spawning and rearing for coho, chum and cutthroat trout, as well as rearing for other juvenile salmonid species that inhabit the main river such as Chinook and steelhead. The habitat has abundant large LWD, good pooling, and about 40% of the habitat has excellent spawning gravels for salmonids. This is one of three streams on the east side of the Upper Wishkah that has access to off channel habitat for salmonids. The other east bank tributaries have high waterfall barriers at the confluence of the river and provide no off-channel rearing for anadroumous salmonids. This tributary is short with 2100 feet of habitat, but it is excellent habitat and critical for salmonid rearing in a river system where most of the side streams have no access. Coho, chinook, and steelhead juveniles rear in this stream and access it during high winter flows. Spawning Coho have been observed in the stream when the high waters allow access. Currently the culvert bottom has collapsed in the center and is culvert is now a total barrier, so fish access is no longer possible.

The goal of the project is to connect isolated habitat to increase the range and distribution of salmon.

The objective of the project is to increase access to areas blocked by human-caused impediments.