The Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) will distribute more than $817,000 for Nooksack River-related restoration projects in Whatcom County, the group announced Monday.
The funds will be distributed to the Nooksack Indian Tribe and the Lummi Nation for four separate projects, including logjam development and spawner surveys.
The Nooksack Tribe received $710,995 for two restoration projects: $413,295 for building logjams along the Homesteader Reach on the South Fork; and $297,700 for designing another restoration project on the river near Van Zandt.
Man-made logjams along the Nooksack have been instrumental in supporting ongoing salmon habitat restoration, according to watershed restoration coordinators from the Nooksack Tribe.
“The Tribe has been a leader of salmon recovery efforts for decades,” Treva Coe, the assistant natural resources director for the Tribe, said during a tour of finished logjam projects. “In our 22 projects, we have built a total of 367 logjams.”
The structures can help form deep, cool pockets of water, vital in combating mass salmon death.
“In summer 2021, more than 2,500 Chinook salmon died on the spawning grounds before spawning,” according to the SRFB’s grant announcement. “Scientists believe the deaths were caused by water that was too warm, low river flows, and degraded habitat.”
Salmon attempt to swim up Whatcom Creek on Sept. 21. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
The Tribe plans to use funds from the grant to develop logjams across the Homesteader Reach, near Acme. The reach is one of the few remaining “high-priority areas” the Tribe identified in its 2005 Salmon Recovery Plan.
The Lummi Nation also received $106,900 for two restoration projects: $60,000 for expanding river spawning surveys; and $46,900 for logjam development in the Porter Creek Reach of the Nooksack’s Middle Fork.
Grant funds will allow the Tribe to build 27 logjams along the middle fork of the Nooksack River, north of Mosquito Lake Road.
The logjams “create places for fish to rest, feed, and hide from predators,” according to the SRFB’s grant announcement. “They slow the water, which reduces erosion and allows small rocks to settle to the riverbed, creating areas for salmon to spawn. Finally, they change the flow of the river, creating riffles and pools, which give salmon more varied habitat.”
Coe compared the pockets created by logjams to “apartment complexes” for the salmon: cool temperatures, safe from predators and great for spawning.
Other nearby groups, including the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group, received significant funding for river restoration and salmon recovery projects. Groups in Skagit County will receive more than $2.49 million for conservation projects.
Since the SRFB’s inception in 1999, it has provided more than $132 million in grant funding for salmon recovery in Washington, though fish populations are still struggling. According to the state’s “State of the Salmon” report, Chinook populations are “in crisis,” and 14 species of salmon and steelhead are considered at risk of extinction under the Endangered Species Act.
