FY2022 Nooksack Tribe Priority Project Implementation

This project will support planning, design and construction of priority Nooksack Chinook habitat restoration projects. In particular, this project is expected to contribute funding 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 Fish Camp Reach Restoration. Restoration will restore 2.4 miles of mainstem riverine habitat and reconnect associated floodplain habitats in the South Fork (SF) Nooksack River Fish Camp Reach (RM 7.3-9.7), near Acme, in Whatcom County. Alternatives analysis is complete, and preliminary design for the preferred alternative has been developed. Preliminary design elements involve construction of 9 large log jams, 17 small log jams, and 18 woody bank structures, as well as removal of over 4500 ft of riprap bank hardening and 3000 ft of revetment. The Nooksack Tribe has submitted a proposal for Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration Large Capital Project funding, requesting $11.7M that is based on preliminary cost estimates. As design is finalized, more accurate construction cost estimates will be developed. The tribe will have dialogue with other fund contributors of the project to ensure PCSRF reporting metrics are not duplicated. For this project the tribe will only be reporting on instream structure placement and a prorated share based on the amount that this project is contributing.



**NOTE: In August 2023, we made the decision to allocate at least a portion of this funding to a different worksite: SF Homesteader Reach Restoration, since it was clear that costs would substantially exceed preliminary cost estimates.

• SF Nooksack Homesteader Reach Restoration. Restoration will restore instream habitat in the South Fork Nooksack River, in a portion of the Fish Camp 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. Most of the funding for the project is being contributed by RCO Grants #21-1132 and #22-1358.

South Fork Nooksack early chinook are essential for ESU recovery, but wild abundances and productivity are critically low. Restoring instream habitat in the South 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 goal of the project is to restore upstream migration, holding, spawning and rearing habitat to improve abundance and productivity of SF Nooksack Early Chinook, which is essential for recovery of the ESA-listed Puget Sound Chinook ESU. In summer 2021, over 2500 Chinook died on the spawning grounds before they could spawn due to high temperatures, low flows and degraded habitat. The Fish Camp reach overlaps a zone of groundwater discharge and is one of the few remaining high priority areas in the lower SF for which restoration is needed. It is heavily used by Chinook returning to the Skookum hatchery upstream. The project will reduce the risk of a future Chinook mortality event by forming deep, complex pools that will provide temperature refuge for holding and rearing Chinook. Restoration will also benefit ESA-listed steelhead and bull trout; coho, chum, riverine sockeye, and pink salmon; and cutthroat trout. The project builds on previous design work funded by the SRFB and represents an important opportunity to integrate habitat restoration and flood risk reduction.





The primary goal of restoration in the SF Nooksack Fish Camp 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.