The SFEG restoration crew, with the help of Lorric Logging company, was able to install six large woody debris clusters in Nookachamps Creek. The weather cooperated and the project was installed according to plan with minor as-built revisions.

The in-stream wood structures have already begun to improve habitat. Pools appear to be developing near some of the structures, and the turbulence around other structures functions to sort fine sand from coarser gravel, thereby enhancing spawning habitat. All the wood structures are cabled to piling which is driven into the stream channel. There should be no fear of the wood moving downstream. Much of the excess large woody debris was spread around the wetland floodplain, and these materials are also cabled in place using anchors that have been driven five feet below the ground surface. While the in-stream structures may trap some of the floating debris, we do not anticipate development of any large log jams that would adversely affect upstream flood conditions. It is important to keep in mind that prior to the instream work, the site flooded several times a year as a result of backwater flooding from the Skagit River and that none of the wood placed in the channel or in the floodplain will exacerbate the flooding.

Other project elements included removing 500 cubic yards of fill from the site, installing several perch poles for raptors, and stripping reed canarygrass sod from lower portions of the field. The sod stripping is intended to facilitate the natural colonization of native herbaceous plants such as spike rush, bull rush, water plantain, and other native wetland herbs whose colonization and seed bank germination is typically prohibited by thick reed canarygrass roots. The stripped areas are not intended to create year round ponds and it will not take long for native plants to spread throughout the wetland. Again it is important to keep in mind the lower field has always flooded and typically remains flooded well into the growing season. This year we experienced a very dry summer and we still could not even get into the deeper wetland area to cut reed canarygrass.

In early November, volunteers planted over 600 trees and shrubs consisting of cedar, fir, alder, red-osier dogwood, and willow. The SFEG Restoration Crew followed with several hundred larger plants from our hillside nursery. This year SFEG is experimenting with some new plant protectors that are made of a polyethylene mesh. They allow better air circulation and humidity but are not supposed to raise temperature inside the shelters. We have noticed plant mortality from the blue protectors due to over heating. The new shelters are earth tone colored and much less aesthetically obtrusive. We'll see how they work.