The project will restore formerly productive instream chinook habitat in Brownes Creek that was destroyed when a massive debris torrent initiated from a plugged culvert and deep road-fill failure on State lands. The resulting dam-break flood was amplified by another deep fill a mile downstream, on private timberland. The debris torrent scoured the channel and valley walls up to 20-30 feet high, and removed all wood from the channel for a distance of two miles. Peak chinook spawner counts dropped from an average peak live count of more than 36 fish per mile during the period 1997-1999 to zero in 2000, and 6 in 2001. A large amount of wood was scoured from the channel, and deposited outside of the bankfull width. The wood can be easily relocated in the stream. The project will move wood into the stream using winches, a log loader, and/or a swing-yarder, depending on location. Additional wood will be added where the creek is accessible from the road. Approximately one mile of stream will be directly treated, and additional stream segments will be seeded at stream crossings. Seeding has been successful on the north fork of the Sekiu River, which has similar channel morphology. Channel disturbance will be minimized by walking equipment on wood or large mats (swamp mats) when near or within the channel. Approximately 3,000 feet of stream will be accessed with a logging shovel, and wood will be placed at about five locations with a swing-yarder.
