Heavy lifting involved in King County habitat restoration project on Newaukum Creek

Some fish and wildlife habitat restoration projects are small enough to be done by a handful of volunteers using shovels, pick axes and other hand tools. That’s not the case for a new King County restoration that is improving habitat at the confluence of Newaukum Creek and the Green River.

Project managers employed a massive Chinook helicopter to bring in an estimated 60 logs weighing thousands of pounds apiece that will form the backbone of an enhanced lower Newaukum Creek – an important tributary to the Green River that supports several salmon and trout species, plus numerous other wildlife species.

The logs are expected to have a big positive effect on habitat conditions at the restoration project site, where work includes reconnecting an old stream channel and restoring an estimated 12 acres of floodplain at the confluence of Newaukum Creek and the Green River, northwest of Enumclaw.

Newaukum Creek and the Green River support chinook, coho, pink, sockeye, and chum salmon, as well as steelhead, sea-run cutthroat, and resident cutthroat and rainbow trout.

“This site has tremendous value for a number of species of birds, amphibians, mammals and fish,” said project manager Dan Eastman, a senior ecologist with the King County Water and Land Resources Division.

“Our goal is to restore lower Newaukum Creek to a more natural condition, which will provide a greater amount of high-quality habitat for many of those species,” Eastman said.

Crews used a heavy duty helicopter to deliver full-sized logs to the ecologically sensitive site. The ship’s pilot expertly dropped each piece of wood to create large structures that form the basis for healthy fish and wildlife habitat. Bundles of smaller wood were also brought into the restoration project.

No logs were placed in the mainstem Green River, which is popular with recreational boat anglers, kayakers and rafters.

Restoration crews are also using a grader to help connect more than one third of a mile of a remnant channel near the Green/Newaukum confluence.
 
The estimated project cost is about $680,000. A Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board award of $578,000 provided the majority of the funds, with additional funding provided by the King Conservation District and King County Surface Water Management funds. The project is expected to be completed by later this summer, with additional restoration planting occurring into winter.

More information on the lower Newaukum Creek habitat restoration project is available at http://www.govlink.org/watersheds/9/plan-implementation/SRFB-lower-newaukum.aspx.

Related Information

Lower Newaukum Creek Restoration

Salmon and Trout Topics

King County Water and Land Resources