Out in hiłsyaqƛis in ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ ḥawiiḥ we’re building this big engineered instream wood structure from second growth logs to replicate the types of structures that would’ve been present with Oldgrowth logs prior to industrial logging. When this watershed was logged decades ago, a ton of sediment came down from landslides and inundated the river, causing it to run straighter, wider and shallower than it had historically, reducing its complexity and thus habitat for fish.
We’re on this straight run of river run here that flows into a structure we built 2 years ago and we’re currently installing a structure on the opposite bank to pinch the flow, creating a more complex, meandering path that will scour out the gravel to create a deeper channel that slows and cools the water, while also retaining more water during low flow and drought conditions.
First we excavated a large pool at the head of the structure before placing these logs horizontally in 4/5 layers intermixed with smaller woody debris and slash, and then we drive more logs in vertically to stabilize the structure. The bigger logs provide shade and shelter while redirecting the water flow in a way that diversifies the stream channel, and all the fine woody bits of slash provide habitat and hiding spaces for these juvenile fish as well as an influx of nutrients for the insects they feed on.
This is one of 11 structures well be installing on this part of the river this summer and collectively they will work to break up this long straight stretch to deepen and narrow the stream channel while adding twists, turns, bends, Eddie’s and pools that will give salmon a great place to grow and thrive at all stages of life.
This structure and all the restoration work being done is no substitute for a healthy river, and it’s a heck of a lot easier to protect and conserve than it is to restore, but this work provides a bandaid of immediate habitat to help bolster the rapidly declining salmon and trout populations in this watershed.
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Produced & Directed by Ross Reid
~ I'd like to acknowledge that this video was filmed on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nations. ~
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