Tucannon River Instream Habitat Enhancement

This grant provided funding to the Columbia Conservation District to design and construct an instream habitat restoration project on the Hovrud property on the Tucannon River, southeast of Dayton, Washington. Designs for a side channel restoration and instream and riparian habitat enhancement project on the McVay property along the Tucannon River were started, but the landowner withdrew from the project and it was never installed. Prior to construction, both project reaches had very limited instream habitat complexity. The Hovrud project installed multiple large wood structures to dissipate flow velocities, create pool habitat, reduce sediment delivery and protect riparian buffers. Both project areas are used by Snake River steelhead, spring Chinook salmon, and bull trout, all of which are listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The goal of the project is to improve instream morphology and habitat in salmon bearing streams. The objective of the project is to increase instream cover, spawning, and resting areas.