North Olympic Peninsula Watershed Page

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Actions and Areas Table for Hoko River Watershed
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DRAFT

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Reach	Species	Habitat Type	Recommended Action	Actions/Needs	Rationale	Comments
flood plain	Chinook, Chum, Coho, Steelhead	Rearing	removal of flood plain encroachments, including railroad grades.	Inventory and prioritize for removal.
Lower reaches			Warm temperatures are lethal to salmon in summer	reduce temperatures through riparian reforestation
9000 Road/ headwaters		Spawning and rearing	Reduce instability and resulting excessive sedimentation downstream.	Remove upstream logging roads and fix remaining ones	Legacy of forestry practices continues to contribute to current instability and sedimentation.	Headwater restoration is imperative to ensuring water quality downstream
Throughout watershed but especially in lower reaches		spawning and rearing	Slow down velocity to reduce mortality, increase habitat, reduce scour and incision, and improve access to tributaries	Addition of large woody debris. Mainstem jams must be large and channel spanning, and form beads on a string, to capture wood and spawning gravel. Jams can be smaller on higher tribs, to reduce peak flows.	Legacy of forestry practices has left insufficient riparian buffer for input of large woody debris. Must be accompanied by riparian restoration, but riparian restoration alone will take too much time.
Throughout watershed		spawning and rearing	Protect riparian corridors to prevent additional damage to watershed hydrology processes and salmonid habitats.	Acquisition of slopes, 500 foot river corridors, fluvial landscape, and all of the floodplains will ensure corridor stability, riparian refugia, cool stream temperature, and protect water quality and velocity.	Current forestry practices and buffers are not sufficient to prevent changes to river hydrology and damage to salmonid habitat. Helicopter logging would reduce roads and some sedimentation but remaining riparian corridor will still be insufficient for providing necessary refugia for shade, large woody debris, and stability.	Acquire available forestry properties, retain crucial riparian strips, and sell remainder with proceeds to be used to purchase additional properties.