Feature Story
Protecting Endangered Salmon and Steelhead
by Ken Graham
The Lower Snake River Salmon Recovery Board was created in 2002 in response to the listing of native Steelhead and Chinook salmon as threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Its Director, Steve Martin, of Dayton, says that the Board’s purpose is to create and implement a recovery plan for the two species in the Lower Snake River and its tributaries in Washington.
The primary focus of the Board is to improve fish habitat. According to Martin, the Board has reviewed and approved funding for numerous projects to improve fish habitat. Funding comes primarily from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is the federal agency responsible for overseeing recovery of endangered ocean-going fish.
“One of the highest priority areas for improving salmon and steelhead habitat is the Touchet River from Waitsburg upstream to the mountains,” says Martin. He says that the area has a very high potential to produce a lot of salmon and steelhead, and while water temperature and stream flow are both fairly good, the river lacks habitat complexity and diversity, primarily due to historic straightening and diking.
Martin has been an active participant on the Touchet River Levee Committee that has been meeting in Dayton since January 2009.
A Detailed Profile of the Touchet River
The first major initiative to come out of the Touchet River Levee Committee is a project to conduct a “geomorphic” assessment of the Touchet River. In December 2009, the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board helped the City of Dayton obtain a $205,000 grant to conduct the assessment from the National Forest boundary south of Dayton downstream to Waitsburg.
1.) According to Board Director Steve Martin, the assessment, which will begin this year, will consist of three phases:
2.) Aerial mapping of the river using LIDAR – a type of radar imaging that provides a detailed three-dimensional profile of the river basin.
3.) On-ground assessment of habitat, including measuring sediment in the river. The study will address the origin, transport and deposit of sediment.
A pilot project on a one- to two-mile stretch of river, which will make changes, such as moving levies and berms, to allow the river to flow more naturally and reduce sediment movement.
“Speculation is that channel straightening has led to abnormal sediment (gravel and rock) movement and increased flood risk,” says Martin. “The assessment will help us to better understand the causes of these two interrelated occurrences and shed light on ways to reduce them.”
The sediment analysis and pilot project design will take at least a year to complete before the pilot project is started. Once the assessment is completed, Martin and other participants in the levee committee hope to work with the numerous landowners along the Touchet and its tributaries to develop a long-term plan to return the river to a more natural state. This will reduce sediment transfer and flood risks and improve the fish habitat throughout the river.
“This will be a voluntary effort on the part of landowners,” says Martin. “It will only be successful if landowners understand the recommendations coming from the assessment and support their implementation.”