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| Mining Reach of the Wind River |
Skamania County, Washington |
Primary Project Type: Instream Restoration
Secondary Type: Riparian Restoration |
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“Mining Reach” of the Wind River, river mile ~24.3, Skamania County, WA. Photo: ... |
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Primary Problem: Over-Widened Channel
Secondary Problem: Timber Harvest |
| Main Restoration Action(s): Large woody debris structures, Riparian revegetation |
| Native Fish Focus: Steelhead |
Is this project part of a watershed scale restoration? No
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| Project Dates: 1999 to 2000 |
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Initial Monitoring: 1995
Restoration Implementation: August 1999 to September 2000
Follow-up Monitoring: Physical habitat monitoring/quantitative objectives 2001-2002. Biological monitoring 1995-present |
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Lead Agency:
U.S. Forest Service, TEAMS Enterprise
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| Project Partners: |
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| Project Location:
The Mining Reach project area is located on river miles 22-25 of the Wind River (T6N, R7E, Sections 4, 9, 16 & 21) in Skamania County, WA.
Click here for a map of the project area.
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Project Description:
Timber harvest, road building, and other land use activities have reduced the quality and quantity of fish habitat within the Wind River watershed, a 235-square-mile watershed in the Columbia River Basin in Washington. In the late 1920s to the mid 1930s, six miles of the Wind River was railroad logged, completely eliminating the riparian area of its old growth. The river responded with accelerated lateral channel migration, increased channel belt width, increased width-to-depth ratio, and further degradation of water quality and fish habitat. More than 70 years after being logged, the riparian area has remained in the early successional stage and the channel has not recovered due to the lack of instream large woody debris (or LWD: greater than 24 inches in diameter, greater than 50 feet in length) needed for velocity modification that protects young riparian stands from flood. By the late 1980s, adult returns of wild anadromous rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (steelhead) declined to perilously low levels.
In 1997, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife rated the status of the Wind River summer run steelhead as critical. In March 1998, the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the steelhead of the lower Columbia as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Consequently, the Wind River summer steelhead has been considered the highest priority for recovery and restoration in the state of Washington’s Lower Columbia Steelhead Conservation Initiative. |
| Project Goals: The goal of this project was to accelerate watershed processes by restoring riparian function, and to recover viable populations of wild steelhead by reestablishing bank and channel stability. The objectives to meet these goals were: (1) to restore the conifer component of the riparian area, (2) to increase shade to greater than 80 percent, (3) to increase bank stability above 80 percent, (4) to reduce bankfull width to depth ratios within identified reaches to less than 25, (5) to increase instream large woody debris greater than 200 pieces per river mile, and (6) to restore 32 acres of historic floodplains. |
| Project Methods:
Three river miles of steelhead spawning and rearing habitat within the Mining Reach of the Wind River were treated in 1999 to 2000. Approximately 80 acres of riparian stands adjacent to the project area were thinned to increase stand vigor and diversity, as well as provide a source of instream structural material. Approximately 1,700 full-length trees (about 500 with intact rootwads) generated by the thinning were used to treat seventy-nine sites within the stream channel and floodplain. Large woody debris structures were used to protect riparian vegetation, reduce width-to-depth ratios, increase bank/channel stability, reconnect flood plains and create fish habitat. Subsequent to the instream and riparian restoration phase, over 260 riparian acres were under-planted with 43,000 native conifers.
Click here for more information on project methods.
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Structure #9 was constructed to aggrade the channel headward and reestablish flo... |
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Structure #12 is designed to reduce severe bank erosion. This structure is comp... |
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| Monitoring Data and Collection
Methods: Water year 2000 monitoring of the Mining Reach Restoration Project (Bair, 2000,
Unpublished Data) evaluated 2,300 feet of stream for physical changes after restoration.
Preliminary results are as follows: - Riparian conifers were restored to densities of 61 trees per hectare, greater than 31 inches in diameter.
- 46,000 western red cedar and grand fir trees were planted along three river miles of the Upper Wind River.
- Large woody debris (greater than 30 centimeters in diameter) increased 497 percent, from 171 to 853 pieces per mile.
- Bank stability increased by 58 percent - from 1,380 feet of stable bank to 2,160 feet.
- Bankfull channel length increased by 48 percent as a result of restoring meanders, reconnecting floodplains and side channels (2,300 to 3,400 feet).
- Bankfull pool volume increased by 520 percent – from 15,150 cubic feet to 79,000 cubic feet.
Fish Monitoring
In 1995 the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) installed and has operated to date a series of smolt traps on all major tributaries of the Wind River. The upper Wind River smolt trap will assist with monitoring the population response to rehabilitation efforts. In addition, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 1997-2005 has monitored population trends of parr wild steelhead and hatchery stray spring Chinook within the project reach. Data analysis is in process. Qualitative results have seen a large increase in steelhead using the project area and a significant decrease in introduced spring Chinook. The decrease in spring Chinook is due to the difficulty in migration during low flow due to the log jams.
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| Was this project effective
and how was this determined? The project is meeting or is close to meeting quantitative objectives. The conifer component of the riparian area was restored which will increase shade on the channel as the trees mature. Bank stability increased and bankfull width-to-depth ratio was restored to appropriate values. Large woody debris was increased significantly allowing velocity modification that protects the young riparian stands from flood. Steelhead abundance (both juvenile and adult) within the treated reach is increasing which may be mostly attributed to favorable ocean conditions; however, it appears that restoration efforts have helped due to increased spawning habitat.
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(Before) “Mining Reach” of the Wind River, mile ~24.7, Skamania County, WA. Phot... |
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(After) “Mining Reach” of the Wind River, mile ~24.7, Skamania County, WA. Photo... |
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| Confounding Effects/Additional
Information: |
| Project
Specs (all specs are estimates): |
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Overall Estimated Cost:
Planning: $43,400; Implementation: $110,500; Cost/Unit: $52,000 per river mile; USFS Contribution: $131,000; BPA Contribution: $23,000
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| For more information on this project
contact: |
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Brian Bair, Project Fisheries Biologist, U.S. Forest Service, Email: bbair@fs.fed.us
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| This information
was collected by: Kristin Keith |
| Project last updated on: 1/27/2006 |
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