Fish Passage

Good, except for potential temperature blockage near Centralia.

H - Open three or more miles of good quality habitat used by at least one stock of salmon or steelhead.

H - Bridges are the preferred structure.  If culverts are used, they should be sized to allow full access to all fish species and life history stages.

H – Address potential water temperature blockage to juveniles and adults during the summer and fall low flow conditions.

L - Inventory, assess, and prioritize all habitat blockages (culverts, dikes, railroad grades, etc.) for all salmonid life history stages. 

L - Develop a database housed with the lead entity, to contain all blockage data. 

Floodplain Conditions

Poor from mid to upper (DG). Known problems: incision, limited rearing habitat, bank protection (dikes).

H - Reconnect or create over-wintering, refuge habitat. 

H - Restoration actions need to increase instream LWD to help address channel incision and flow issues.  This includes

Appropriate riparian restoration to result in better future LWD levels.

H – Remove riprap.

H - Conserve existing refuge, over-winter areas, especially the lower 10 miles of mainstem slough habitat identified in Ralph et al. (1994).

H – Purchase flood easements from agricultural interests, let river flood here.

M – Preserve beaver dams.

H - Inventory impacts and suitable restoration sites for floodplain habitat coincident with the barrier/culvert inventory.  Use information to guide future projects and to provide a more accurate rating of mainstem floodplain conditions.

H – Identify refuge areas.

Sediment

Poor. Known problems: high sediment transport, debris torrents, bank erosion.

H - Reduce sediment loads and increase LWD to slow sediment transport in the Satsop, Wynoochee, upper Chehalis (upstream of Doty), South Fork Chehalis, and Newaukum sub-basins.  These contribute the greatest sediment loads to the mainstem.

M - Provide education regarding the impacts livestock access and increase enforcement.

H – Rehabilitate old roads not used to reduce fines.

H – Reduce bank erosion (riparian restoration, livestock exclusion, engineered logjams to deflect flows from eroding banks, etc.).

H – Relocate gravel extraction activities away from shorelines and the 100-year floodplain.

H - Avoid activities that would increase sedimentation along the left bank (looking downstream) of the mainstem from RM 11.5-21.  This is an area prone to landslides and erosion.

M – Provide incentives for landowners to preserve spawning areas.

H - Inventory roads and assess impacts to salmonids and prioritize restoration actions accordingly. 

M – Survey cross-sections of  the river every 2-5 years to determine extent of channel changes.

LWD

Poor (DG)

H - Actions are needed to increase LWD, or similarly functioning natural structures, in appropriate places.  In the mainstem, the most viable option in most reaches is increasing natural recruitment through riparian restoration.  In some areas, trees with attached rootwads could be placed in banks to help capture migrating pieces.

H – Prevent removal of appropriate pieces of LWD, and other natural structures, within the floodplain through increased education and enforcement. 

H - Determine appropriateness through inventory or other assessment of LWD, or other natural structure(s), placement.  (E.g. gravel recruiting, hydrology, wood or structure size, gradient, near term LWD recruitment potential, and valley confinement)

Riparian

Poor (DG). Known Problems: riparian loss, conversion to hardwoods.

H - Revegetate open riparian areas with native plants including conifers in appropriate places.  Prioritize as follows 1) mainstem between Newaukum River and Skookumchuck River, 2) mainstem between Skookumchuck River and Scatter Creek, 3) mainstem between Scatter Creek and Porter, 4) mainstem from Elk Creek to Newaukum River, 5) mainstem headwaters to Elk Creek, and 6) all other mainstem reaches.

M - Interplant conifer into hardwood riparian areas that were historically conifer areas.

M- Plant conifer adjacent to and outside existing and limited existing conifer hardwood riparian areas.

H - Funds, lands, and easement opportunities should be identified to obtain areas of mid-to late seral stage riparian with priority given to older stands.  This is applicable to lands that do not have current protection such as those outside of current forest practice regulations.

H – Continue enforcement and revision of current regulations that preserve and enhance riparian regeneration.

H - Assess and prioritize recovery and protection for riparian conditions.

Water Quality

Poor. Known problems: warm water temperatures, low dissolved oxygen (causes: low flows, riparian loss, sediment loads, livestock waste, urban stormwater).

H - Actions need to address sediment, riparian, and flow problems.   Follow prioritized riparian restoration recommendations discussed above to improve water temperature conditions.

H - Reduce livestock access to streams. 

H - Reduce livestock waste delivery to streams, especially in reaches from Porter to Scammon Creek, and from the Newaukum River to the East and West Fork confluence. 

H - Prioritize livestock waste reduction in the following tributaries in this order: 1) Salzer Creek, 2) Dillenbaugh Creek, 3) South Fork Chehalis River, 4) Black River, 5) Lincoln Creek, 6) Independence Creek, and 7) Scatter Creek.  These tributaries contribute high BOD loads that result in low dissolved oxygen levels in the mainstem.

H - Reduce urban stormwater and food processing plant inputs into the drainage near the cities of Centralia and Chehalis to improve dissolved oxygen conditions.

H - Increase activities that lead to natural recharge of the aquifers and maintain or improve hydrological maturity. 

H - Restore wetlands and off-channel habitat.

L - Reduce groundwater inputs of contaminants, especially near Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Centralia, and Chehalis.  Address failing septic systems and improve agricultural practices near Montesano, Elma, the Chehalis Indian Reservation, and near Dillenbaugh and Berwick Creeks.

H - Decrease activities that interfere with the natural recharge of aquifers or degrade hydrological maturity.

H – Preserve riparian areas.

H – Buy water rights that result in actual increases in stream flow (senior rights preferred).

H – Continue to monitor water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity and several sites throughout the length of the mainstem.

Water Quantity

Poor. Known problems: low flows due to water use, loss of wetlands, loss of forestlands.

H - Reduce water withdrawals from surface sources. 

H - Increase activities that lead to natural recharge of the aquifers and maintain or improve hydrologic maturity. 

H -Restore wetlands and off-channel habitat.

H – Buy back water rights, prioritizing those that actually increase stream flow (senior rights).

H - Encourage and reward water conservation efforts, especially for irrigation, hydropower, and domestic use (the three greatest water consumers in the drainage).

H - Decrease activities that interfere with the natural recharge of aquifers or degrade hydrological maturity.

H – Implement a moratorium on any further withdrawals.

L – Install staff gauges in the lower mainstem, and monitor stream flows.

Biological Processes

Known problems: need more complete salmonid escapement information, also lowered escapements from past levels.

L - Increase contribution of marine –derived nutrients through increased use of carcasses. 

H – Catalog pools, ripples, spawning rearing areas and use by species.

H - Continue escapement data collection.

H - Increase field surveys regarding salmonid distribution, escapement and habitat use by life history stage.

L - Assess marine-derived nutrient processes. 

H – Collect data on fish use and stream characteristics.