Through the years, I’ve written a lot about the Skokomish River,
which begins in the Olympic Mountains and flows into the south end
of Hood Canal. The wide, productive estuary might be described as
the elbow of this long, narrow waterway that bends up toward
Belfair.
I’ve heard it said that Puget Sound cannot be restored to health
without a healthy Hood Canal, and Hood Canal cannot be restored to
health without a healthy Skokomish River. Whether that is true
remains to be seen, but I have no doubt that the Skokomish River
watershed is coming out of a dark period of abuse with hope of
becoming one of the most productive streams in the region.
Much of the credit for the transformation goes to a group of men
and women from a variety of agencies, occupations and ways of life
who came together with an understanding of the historic value of
the Skokomish River and a vision for what the river could become
again. This was the Skokomish Watershed Action Team, or SWAT, which
celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.
To be sure, it was basically loads of money that began to
transform the abused Skokomish River watershed to a much more
productive system. But the people in charge of the federal, state,
local and private dollars were able to see the Skokomish as a
worthy cause, thanks to the groundwork laid by the SWAT.
Disappointments have been few, as one project after another brings
this long lost river back to life.
Yes, I have written a lot about the Skokomish River, its history
and its future. That’s why I was glad to see the 10-year update to
the Skokomish Watershed
Action Plan (download, PDF 113 mb). The document contains an
extensive account of the projects completed and the milestones
passed through the years. Whether you are intimately involved in
the watershed or just want to know what the heck I’m talking about,
take a look at the report released this week.
Logjam soon after installation
in 2010.
Photo: U.S. Forest Service
Since 2005, nearly 50 restoration projects were completed — from
removal of old logging roads high in the mountains to the
re-establishment of tidal channels in the lower estuary. Salmon are
being reintroduced to the North Fork of the Skokomish River,
including the dammed-up Lake Cushman, thanks to a legal settlement
between Tacoma and the Skokomish Tribe.
Later, a deep pool forms behind
the jam.
Photo: U.S. Forest Service
About 12 miles upstream in the South Fork of the Skokomish, a
series of 30 logjams were installed and almost immediately began to
restore the channel to a more natural habitat for fish and other
aquatic creatures. This area was part of a four-mile stretch that
was heavily logged in the 1950s for a reservoir that never
happened.
Once the logjams were in place, the area began to store massive
loads of sediment, which always created problems as they washed
downstream into the lower river. The river’s characteristic problem
of spreading out and slowing down was reversed, as width-to-depth
ratios decreased and the average depth in the middle of the river
increased by two feet. The number of pools deeper than five feet
doubled from three to six, and the piles of wood grew larger by
capturing logs floating downstream.
The new report also lays out plans for the watershed in the
coming years, including projects identified in a major study by the
Army Corps of Engineers. A Corps proposal to fund $20 million in
restoration projects is now before Congress, as I described in
Water Ways in April and June. Other projects have been proposed
for separate funding, as outlined in the new report.
More than 20 years of removing and reconstructing old logging
roads in the Skokomish River watershed has finally paid off with
measurable improvement to water quality and habitat, according to
experts with Olympic National Forest where millions of dollars have
been spent on restoration.
In a U.S. Forest Service
project nicknamed “the Big Dig,” contract crews removed nearly 100
vertical feet of road in the South Fork of the Skokomish watershed
to remove an eight-foot culvert.
Photo: Kitsap Sun, Steve Zugschwerdt
The U.S. Forest Service this week declared that the upper South
Fork of the Skokomish is now a “properly functioning” watershed,
and the major road-restoration projects are complete.
After writing for years about horrendous problems with sediment
washing out of the upper watershed, this news comes as a nice
surprise. I’ve been hearing experts talk about water-quality
improvements, but this new declaration is a major milestone in the
restoration of the entire Skokomish River ecosystem.
“This is a proud and historic occasion for the Forest Service
and our many partners who have worked very hard for over two
decades to restore this once badly degraded watershed,” Reta
Laford, supervisor for Olympic National Forest, said in a
news release.
In 2012, Olympic National Forest designated the upper and middle
South Fork Skokomish sub-watersheds as “priority watersheds.“
Forest Service officials pushed forward with action plans
containing a list of restoration projects designed to put the
watersheds on a path to ecological health.
Completion of the key restoration projects in the upper South
Fork allowed for the new designation as a “properly functioning”
watershed. This marks the first time that any watershed in Olympic
National Forest has been upgraded due to completion of all
essential restoration projects. Watershed conditions and aquatic
habitat will continue to improve as natural processes roll on.
Restoration in the South Fork actually began in the early 1990s,
when the Forest Service acknowledged that the region was
criss-crossed by a damaging network of logging roads. At nearly
four miles of road for every fourone square mile of forest, it
was one of the densest tangles of roads in any national forest.
In 1994, the Forest Service designated the South Fork Skokomish
as a “key watershed” in the Northwest Forest Plan, which called for
major cutbacks in logging and received support from President Bill
Clinton. Between the early 1990s and 2005, Olympic National Forest
completed $10.6 million in restoration work, including $7.9 million
for road decommissioning, road stabilization and drainage
improvements.
In 2005, the Skokomish Watershed Action Team (SWAT) was formed
among a coalition of more than 20 government agencies,
environmental organizations and business groups with diverse
interests. The SWAT developed a unified front for promoting
restoration projects and seeking funds. Members agreed that the
focus on roads should begin with the upstream segments, later
moving downstream, while other work was coordinated on the estuary
near Hood Canal. Much of the lower area was owned or acquired by
the Skokomish Tribe, a critical partner in the SWAT.
Between 2006 and 2015, the Forest Service continued with $13.2
million in restoration projects in the South Fork, including $10.9
million on road problems. In all, 91 miles of roads were
decommissioned, closed or converted to trails, and 85 miles of
roads were stabilized or improved with new culverts and drainage
features.
Much of the road restoration work was funded by Congress through
the Forest Service’s Legacy Roads and Trails Program. Former U.S.
Rep. Norm Dicks was instrumental in creating that program, and
congressional support has continued under the leadership of Norm’s
successor, U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, and U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and
Maria Cantwell.
Key funding for restoration also has come from the Forest
Stewardship program, which uses receipts from commercial timber
thinning on forest lands. Other financial support — especially in
the lower watershed — has come from the state’s Salmon Recovery
Funding Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In 2009, I wrote a story for “Wilderness” magazine
about how these programs were bringing “green jobs” to the
region.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed an
in-depth study of the river’s ecosystem last year and is now
seeking funding from Congress for a series of projects in the
watershed. Check out
Water Ways, April 28, 2016.
To celebrate this milestone for Olympic National Forest, the
SWAT will recognize the work at its general meeting Friday at the
Skokomish Grange Hall, 2202 W. Skokomish Valley Road. The meeting
begins at 9 a.m., and the public is invited.
It’s turning out to be a good Christmas for the Skokomish
watershed in southern Hood Canal, where numerous restoration
projects recently received a green light.
Restoring the Skokomish River ecosystem is often regarded as
essential to restoring Hood Canal to a healthy condition. Work over
the past 10 years has reduced sediment coming from the Olympic
Mountains, improved flow conditions in the river and restored tidal
mixing and native vegetation in the vast Skokomish estuary.
Continuing efforts — including a new
fish-passage facility in the North Fork of the Skokomish — are
contributing to an increase in species diversity and improved
salmon habitat.
The latest news involves future restoration efforts, including
an award of five grants totaling $1.4 million from the state’s
Salmon
Recovery Funding Board. In addition, top officials in the Army
Corps of Engineers have endorsed the long-awaited Skokomish River
Basin Ecosystem Restoration Plan, expected to cost about $20
million.
“We are making solid progress on all fronts,” said Mike Anderson
of The Wilderness Society who serves as coordinator of the
Skokomish Watershed Action Team. The action team, which celebrated
its 10th anniversary this year, includes representatives of
federal, state and local agencies, the Skokomish Tribe,
environmental groups, business interests and area residents.
It has been rewarding for me to watch the coordinated efforts —
from the U.S. Forest Service working high up in the Olympic
Mountains to the Skokomish Tribe and Mason Conservation District
working on the tidelands of Hood Canal. For a history of the
struggle, please read my 2009 series “Taming the Skokomish.”
Part 1, the people;
Part 2, farming;
Part 3, logging;
Part 4, the restoration.
When culverts fail, streams can
become inundated with sediment. The Forest Service has been
removing unneeded roads in the Skokomish watershed for 20
years.
Photo: Kitsap Sun
On a related note, the Forest Service recently announced that it
has completed its effort to remove unneeded logging roads and make
sure they no longer contribute sediment to nearby streams and the
Skokomish River. In all, more than 200 miles of roads have been
decommissioned over the past 20 years.
The Forest Service is now moving ahead with “vegetation
management” on some 4,500 acres of timberland in the Lower North
Fork and Lower South Fork of the Skokomish River. The project
involves commercial timber harvest and restoration treatments in an
effort to accelerate the return to old-growth conditions. See
Vegetation Management Project.
A
Dec. 14 letter (PDF 818 kb) from the Army’s chief of engineers
moves the Skokomish restoration project one step closer to
congressional approval.
“The recommended plan provides restoration on a total of 277
acres in the study area and provides substantial benefits to
nationally significant resources,” states the letter from Lt. Gen.
Thomas Bostick. “In addition, the removal of the levee at the
confluence of the North and South Forks of the Skokomish River
provides significant benefits for upstream fish passage to an
approximate additional 40 miles of habitat in the South Fork
Skokomish River that is periodically inaccessible due to the lack
of water in the river channel adjacent to the confluence.”
Although the project names have been modified to stress
ecosystem functions, I reported on all five in
Water Ways a year ago:
Car body levee removal: This levee was built
with old cars at the confluence where the North Fork flows into the
mainstem of the Skokomish. Some 5,000 feet of the levee would be
removed. A small channel would be created to allow water from the
mainstem to flow into the North Fork and return at the existing
confluence. Large woody debris would help direct water into the
channel. Estimated cost: $7.5 million.
Large woody debris: Upstream of the confluence
with the North Fork, large woody debris would be installed. Large
clusters of trees with root wads, as well as some single trees,
would be placed between river mile 9 and 11, as measured from the
estuary in Hood Canal. Estimated cost: $3.2 million.
Setback levee at river mile 9: The existing
levee would be breached in four locations, and a new levee would be
built some 200 to 300 feet farther away. The levee would allow for
minor over-topping but would not increase the flood risk. Estimated
cost: $2.4 million.
Grange levee: Larger breeches are planned for
the levee near the Grange hall at river mile 7.5 to 8, compared to
the levee at river mile 9. A new levee, up to 10 feet tall and
2,900 feet long, would be constructed 1,200 feet farther back with
no increase in flood risk. Locations are still under discussion.
Estimate cost $3.3 million.
Side channel connection near Highway 101: An
old remnant channel between river mile 4 and 5.6 would be restored
to take water from the mainstem at high flows. Woody debris would
help define the inlet and outlet to the channel, which would become
a ponded wetland at low flows. Estimated cost: $3.1 million.
If approved by Congress, the federal government would pay 65
percent of the cost, with 35 percent coming from state and local
governments.
The ecosystem investigation by the Army Corps of Engineers also
identified other worthy projects that did not qualify for funding
through the Corps. Some of those projects are being funneled
through other state and federal programs. Projects recently
approved by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board:
Weaver Creek
Reconnecting Weaver Creek, $200,000: A new
750-foot channel will connect a stagnant portion of Weaver Creek to
the free-flowing Purdy Creek, and about 25 logs will be installed.
In addition to improved flows, the project will boost oxygen levels
in the stream. The sponsor, Mason Conservation District, will
contribute $153,000 from a separate federal grant.
South Fork Logjams, $225,000: Twenty-two
man-made logjams will be added to the Holman Flats area in the
South Fork of the Skokomish River to create salmon habitat, reduce
sediment flows and stabilize the stream channel. This area was once
cleared for a reservoir that was never built, resulting in excess
sediment that destroys salmon spawning beds. The sponsor, Mason
Conservation District, will contribute $469,000 from a separate
state grant.
Logjam priorities in Upper South Fork,
$305,000: Mason Conservation District will study a 12-mile stretch
of the Upper South Fork of the Skokomish to develop a prioritized
list of the best places to install future logjams. Logjams are
designed to improve fish habitat, reduce sediment movement and
stabilize stream banks. The conservation district will contribute
$54,000 and labor.
Logjam designs for Skokomish, $265,000: Mason
Conservation District will work with landowners to select a design
for logjams on a 1.6-mile stretch of the Skokomish River that lacks
shoreline structure. The conservation district will contribute
$47,000 in donations of equipment.
Concepts for moving Skokomish Valley Road,
$363,000: Moving the road away from the South Fork of the Skokomish
River would allow for the removal of levees, restoration of the
river banks and reconnection of the river to about 60 acres of
floodplain. This project would investigate possible locations for a
new road as well as the possible addition of a meander to the river
channel and the removal or relocation of a bridge over Vance Creek.
The sponsor, Mason Conservation District, will contribute $64,000
from a separate federal grant.
Some $3.3 million from the federal Forest Legacy Program will be
used to purchase development rights on 2,100 acres of Pope
Resources forestland adjacent to both Green Mountain and Tahuya
state forests.
That’s almost as good
as putting these lands into one of the two state forests, which is
something that could happen in the future. See my story in
today’s Kitsap Sun.
Jon Rose, who works on long-term plans for Pope, says the land
near Tiger and Panther lakes was under pressure for development.
Now, the land will be retained in forestry uses.
The property, which straddles the Kitsap-Mason county line and
lies adjacent to Bremerton’s vast watershed, can be found in the
upper reaches of the Tahuya watershed — and that was how it was
presented to the U.S. Forest Service. The Forest Service
administers the Forest
Legacy Program and lays out priorities for future
acquisition.
The property will provide habitat for a variety of species and
help maintain clean water in nearby salmon streams. A forest
management plan spells out how and where logging can occur, with
protections included for streams, wetlands and related buffers.
Washington Department of Natural Resources is designated to
apply for Forest Legacy money in this state. Since 2000, about 20
properties in Washington have been acquired. Thirteen of them are
in King County, three are in Kittitas, two are in Snohomish and one
is in Pierce. Check out the list
of properties through 2008 (PDF 40 kb).
