Funded habitat recovery projects

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  • For interactive map of funded SRFB projects, click here

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Lake Pleasant / Lake Creek Conservation Easement
(Funded 2002). Current Status: Active

The partners seek to permanently protect, by conservation easements, productive sockeye, coho, steelhead and cutthroat habitat on about 29 undeveloped acres on the north shore of Lake Pleasant, which include the inlet of Lake Creek.

All the sockeye in the Quillayute system spawn in Lake Pleasant, preferring the north end. They are a unique stock, an Evolutionarily Significant Unit whose status appears stable, with observed escapement of up to 3,500 fish in 2000.

The project area includes 1,300 feet of Lake Creek, tributaries to the creek and the lake & approximately 10 acres of forested wetland. This portion of Lake Creek, with its tributaries, has been called the most productive coho habitat in the Quillayute system; these coho include a unique, resident population. Steelhead and cutthroat trout also spawn and rear in this area. The lower reach of Lake Creek, south of the lake, is prime chinook spawning habitat. Protecting water quality as Lake Creek flows into the lake will help protect water quality at the outlet.

Increasing development pressure at Lake Pleasant lends urgency to protecting spawning and rearing habitat of unique salmonid populations; the owner could sell, log or build at any time. Conservation easements would prohibit timber harvest, removal of wood from streams and construction of impervious surfaces or shoreline armoring.

Protecting this habitat is the Quileute Tribe's top priority and the current landowner supports the project.