Bull Creek Hamilton Reach Instream and Floodplain Habitat Restoration Project

The purpose of this ecosystem-based restoration project is to improve floodplain connectivity by remediating the remaining legacy effects of sediment aggradation lingering from the 1955 and 1964 catastrophic floods and post-flood remedial actions.



The Project will remove a sediment detention structure, install four engineered wood jams, each with a minimum of eight conifer logs with rootwads, remove approximately 47,000 cubic yards of material across the 18 acre floodplain to restore hydraulic connectivity and juvenile salmonid access to high quality off-channel rearing habitat, install additional large wood material in scour channels and off-channel ponds across the floodplain, protect existing high quality riparian vegetation, and replant approximately 24 different riparian vegetation species in seed mix, individual bare root and container stock plants, and willow and cottonwood pole cuttings.

The goal of these actions is to bring Bull Creek to considerably higher quality salmonid habitat and increase overall watershed resilience across the basin. The project is focused on addressing recovery of steelhead trout, but the project will also contribute to the recovery of other listed anadromous salmonid species under NOAA jurisdiction including Coho Salmon and Chinook Salmon. Pacific lamprey are present in the Bull Creek watershed and anticipated to benefit from implementation of the Project.