Indian Creek Restoration Design

Indian Creek is an Elwha River tributary that was among the first places colonized by Pacific Salmon following removal of Elwha Dam in 2012. While Indian Creek has proven to have high productivity to date, the Tribe has identified degraded habitat in the lower 0.5 miles of the system. These include historic channelization, encroachment by human constructed structures, loss of woody material, and degraded riparian conditions. In this proposal, the Tribe proposes to evaluate environmental conditions necessary to support a final engineering design for the restoration of Indian Creek between river mile 0.0-0.5. We will accomplish this by contracting with a qualified contractor with experience developing restoration designs in the Pacific Northwest.

This project will result in a basis of design, engineering design and cost estimate to implement habitat restoration on Indian Creek, an important tributary of the Elwha River. This information will be directly used by the Tribe to seek implementation funding within the reach. Successful implementation is expected to result in improved spawning and rearing habitat for multiple species of Pacific salmon including Chinook, coho, pink and chum salmon as well as steelhead. Expected restoration actions include removal of push up dikes, addition of woody material, removal of derelict structures and riparian improvements.