by Alison Studley
As a major tributary of the Wild and Scenic Skagit River, Finney Creek has a significant influence on the water quality and salmon habitat of the lower Skagit. Historically, Finney Creek provided important habitat for four salmon species (chinook, coho, chum and pink) and steelhead and cutthroat trout runs. However Finney Creek currently suffers from incredibly high water temperatures during the summer months which can kill juvenile salmon.
This summer Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group is partnering with the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and the Crown Pacific timber company to restore instream habitat for threatened salmon runs on Finney Creek. This project, along with other Finney Creek restoration efforts, could play a key role in the salmon recovery process for the Skagit River.
Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group received a Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant for $183,800 to implement this project. The Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest is partnering by designing the project as well as providing the 250 logs needed for the project. Access to the stream site is being provided by Crown Pacific, who owns the land on which the project is taking place.
The project involves installation of large woody debris and log jams in a 1.5 mile stretch of Finney Creek between river mile 9 and 10.5. Finney Creek has been plagued by increased sediment loads due to rapid logging of the hillsides during the 1970's and 1980's. Strategic placement of woody debris will reinforce existing small log jams and create new log jams that will help trap sediment, create pools, and decrease water temperatures to make a healthier environment for salmon and resident trout. The project is using logs to reinforce and resemble natural accumulations of woody debris. Logs are being cabled together within each complex to increase the mass of individual logs and to duplicate the mass that would have occurred naturally with large tree recruitment. In mid-July 250 logs were flown in by helicopter to Finney Creek. These logs are placed to reinforce and create log jams at 20 sites within the creek. Crews from the Forest Service and the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group are spending several weeks cabling these logs together to create large log jams.
Columbia Helicopters lifts logs for placement into the salmon habitat
restoration project in Finney Creek.
The new log jams will help to decrease the channel's width-to-depth ratio, and accelerate natural pool development and stream bank formation. Riparian vegetation will return once the channel decreases in width-to-depth ratio. The net effect will reduce stream temperature and improve fish habitat. Temperature reduction will be accomplished by re-establishing large woody debris; increasing sediment storage, and recovering riparian areas. Salmon habitat will be improved throughout the 1.5 mile project reach, the 9 miles of anadromous habitat downstream, as well as the lower Skagit River.
This restoration effort builds upon the success of an earlier project in which the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group partnered with the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The Upper Finney Creek project also created log jams in the upper portions of Finney Creek. Monitoring of this project, implemented in 1999 and 2000, has indicated that the project's short term goals are being met. The stream channel has started to change shape and water temperature has been reduced downstream of the upper project. This year's project is a continuation of this watershed restoration effort. The Forest Service is also working with the Skagit Conservation District on other grants that are decreasing the sources of sediment in Finney Creek. These grant funds are being used to treat logging roads by decommissioning, improving and upgrading roads throughout the Finney Creek watershed.
Less than 20 years ago, natural resource agencies (including the Forest Service) were cleaning logs out of stream systems as a common practice to improve conditions for salmon. Today's research has shown that logs create valuable habitat for salmon, and are a major physical feature of rivers and streams that help control water temperature, and regulate flow conditions and sediment movement. With the listing of chinook salmon on the Endangered Species list, the Finney Creek log jam projects illustrate a unique partnership between a federal agency, timber company and a local community group to promote the recovery of threatened salmon species.
