North Olympic Peninsula Watershed Page

  • For Salmon Recovery Planning and Watershed Pages by WRIA, click here
  • For Salmon and Habitat Information Resources, click here

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DRAFT, last updated 2/4/05

Sol Duc Basin Watershed Page – WRIA 20, Tier 1

A. Watershed Information:

  1. General Watershed Description:
    The Soleduck sub-basin lies partly within the Olympic National Park (upper reaches) and
    partly in timber-managed, agricultural, and residential development. The contrast
    between the pristine habitat conditions within the Park is sharp compared to conditions
    further downstream. Outside of the Park boundaries, numerous major habitat problems
    exist. Excessive sedimentation is a problem and stems mostly from landslides. High
    road densities are associated with the sedimentation problems. High levels of fine
    sediments are found in many Soleduck tributaries, which degrade the quality of spawning
    habitat. Areas of “poor” LWD and riparian conditions are other problems. The Soleduck
    drainage is naturally limited in wetland habitat, yet continued loss of wetlands and offchannel
    habitat occurs. Warm water temperatures are a problem in the summer,
    potentially impacting adult migration and spawning of summer chinook and a unique
    summer coho run. A large potential habitat problem is the over-allocation of water from
    the river. Contributing to summer low flows and warm water temperatures is the “poor”
    hydrologic maturity (loss of fog drip, change in hydrology) outside of the Park
    boundaries. Blockages are a known major problem within Gunderson and Tassel
    Creeks. .WRIA 20 Limiting Factors Analysis, p. 10.
  2. Hatchery impacts: See Table 4. Current Hatchery Information
  3. Stakeholders:
  4. Tier explanation (from NOPLE Salmon Habitat Recovery Strategy): See Prioritized Watersheds in NOPLE Strategy
  5. Bibliography:

B. Salmon Habitat Recovery Priorities:

  1. Salmonid stocks & their status. The following salmonid stocks occur in this watershed. For more info about these stocks, click here.
    • Spring, Summer and Fall Chinook
    • Summer and Fall Coho
    • Summer and Winter Steelhead
    • Dolly Varden
  2. Priority salmon stocks. Recovery efforts will be focused on the following salmonid stocks for the stated reasons:
  3. Priority Limiting Watershed Process & Habitat Features: See Major Limiting Factors for Sol Duc.
  4. Major actions to protect and improve: Click here for Quillayute Basin Project Prioritization, dated 2001.
  5. Priority actions and areas: Click here for Quillayute Basin Project Prioritization, dated 2001.
  6. Community issues: Click here for Quillayute Basin Project Prioritization, dated 2001.

C. Recovery Projects:

D. Monitoring:

E. Emerging Issues: