Cispus-Yellowjacket Phase 4 Restoration

The Cowlitz Indian Tribe, in partnership with the USDA Forest Service and Cascade Forest Conservancy, proposes to build in-stream structures in 2,600 lineal feet of the main stem Cispus River near Randle, Lewis County, to scour pools, sort gravels, support floodplain forest succession, and provide cover for adult and juvenile fish. The structures in the main stem Cispus will encourage the development and maintenance of a complex, anastomosing channel network throughout a range of flows providing pre-spawn holding, spawning, and rearing habitat for spring Chinook, winter steelhead, and coho. Riparian plantings will support future large wood recruitment, provide stream shading, and provide structural stability to banks and bar-apex log jams. The funding for this project is being provided by Tacoma Power (prospective as of PCSRF grant acceptance), PCSRF, and the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office using PCSRF or PCSRF-matched state funds. To prevent double-counting, the metrics are being roughly halved between the PCSRF and PRISM databases.

The Cispus-Yellowjacket Phase 4 Restoration project includes actions that will alter physical habitat conditions to form a resilient, forested floodplain island network, increase side channel habitat, improve instream habitat diversity, increase wood loading, increase pool area and residual depth, generally increasing the quantity and quality of holding, spawning, and rearing habitat throughout the project reach. We expect these changes to drive biological outcomes including increased spawning success and improved juvenile survival rates for listed salmon and steelhead populations.