Nason Creek LWP Alcove Acquisition

The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust reassembled parcels from 3 different landowners to acquire 14.99 acres in the Lower White Pine Reach of Nason Creek, that flows into the Wenatchee River, a tributary of the Columbia River. The Lower White Pine Alcove at RM 11.2-11.4 protects both sides of the riverbank for 1100 feet (over 2200 feet overall). The project also permanently protect acres of floodplain and a year-round watered alcove that was the former main channel of Nason Creek.

Nason Creek is a Category 2 stream, a major spawning area for endangered spring Chinook and steelhead and a core area for threatened bull trout ). Tier 1 actions are to “protect existing riparian habitat and channel migration floodplain function.” Using the Bureau of Reclamation reach assessment recommendations, these properties were ranked among the highest of 70 private holdings for protection in the 10 miles between RM 4.6 and 14 constituting the Upper White Pine, Lower White Pine, and Kahler reaches. This site is within the 2.5 mile Reach 3, in which the Chelan PUDs 2010 spawning survey reported 33% of the spring Chinook redds for all of Nason Creek, representing 19% of the redds in the Wenatchee Basin. For steelhead, 27% of the redds in the Wenatchee Basin were in Nason Creek, and most of the spawning was in Reach 3.

At the same time as CDLT was working on the acquisition, the Yakama Nation was planning and implementing a restoration project on part of the property. The Nason Creek Floodplain is restrained in this area to 800+ feet between Highway 2 and the BNSF railway, but of which ciut off historic meanders. The Creek has moved around significantly within these two rigid barriers. Part of the acquired property was cleared many years ago for grazing, resulting in easily erodable soils. The main channel had been cutting away at the bank on the Click property, moving ever closer to the downstream neighbors garage and home. The Yakama Nation project, constructed in 2014, created a pilot channel and reinforced the eroding bank with large qualtities of buried and exposed wood, interspersed with ripaian plantings drilled in to water depth. The project is almost entirely located on the subject property now owned by CDLT.

The goal of this project is to purchase up to 18 acres in the lower White Pine reach of Nason Creek, which flows into the Wenatchee River, a tributary of the Columbia River. The purchase will protect both sides of the riverbank for nearly a quarter-mile, as well as permanently protect several acres of floodplain and a year-round watered alcove that was formerly the main channel of Nason Creek. Nason Creek is a major spawning area for endangered spring Chinook and steelhead and a core area for bull trout, which are listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act.