What was once nearly 40 acres of unmanageable wetlands near Adna is being transformed into a thriving ecosystem by a group of energetic landowners and volunteers. In the process, the two struggling creeks that bisect the acreage are again free to flow on their merry way. And that’s terrific news for the coho salmon that […]
Submitted by Paul Dunn for the Chehalis Basin Lead Entity Chat with Janet Strong for a bit, and your mind’s eye imagines beforehand what your actual sight now confirms. Looking like the proverbial bump on a log, Strong is perched on the horizontal, above-ground root of a massive hemlock tree. The stately conifer is one […]
Submitted by Paul Dunn for Chehalis Basin Partnership Her friends on the boat call her “Captain Kasey.” Once every month or two, Kasey Hoyt skippers a small outboard-motor-powered dingy around Carlisle Lake in Onalaska. The boat team takes water-quality readings of temperature, pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen. The boat team also takes a sample of […]
Rochester resident JB McCrummen worked with foresters in local NRCS offices in Olympia and Puyallup to help him determine how he could enhance wildlife habitat on his property. “By providing habitat diversity, JB’s property will provide additional habitat not just for salmon species, but a variety of wildlife that utilizes the creek, riparian area, […]
A recently completed project by the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force provides fish access up a 2.5 mile long tributary to Porter Creek. Now that the project is complete, the tributary will support coho, Chinook, steelhead, chum and cutthroat trout. The tributary is expected to provide spawning grounds for coho and cutthroat. The other species will likely […]
Writte by Paul Dunn for the Chehalis Basin Lead Entity Bill Vogel can still feel the weight on his shoulders, even 20 years later. It’s been that long since his son Karl rode atop his shoulders, the two wandering the forests and wetlands adjacent their Lake Lucinda home much as the first explorers to see […]
Submitted by Paul Dunn for Chehalis Basin Lead Entity To John Wilson and others in the Sylvan Terrace Owners Association, the multi-acre splash of riparian and wetland area between their Olympia condominium complex and Black Lake is a little bit of paradise. The site, they say — including Michelle Creek that bisects it — is a marvelous […]
In May, 2016, local citizens and state scientists reviewed six projects that will benefit salmon populations in the Chehalis River Basin. This summer, the team will thoroughly review the projects to make sure they’re technically sound and respect community values. Projects that are awarded a grant by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board will begin in 2017.
By Paul Dunn Like the migrating coho salmon for which he advocates, Jarred Figlar-Barnes periodically struggles against the current. But he never stops swimming. That’s just not the 20-year-old Elma resident’s style. Instead, the Evergreen State College (TESC) junior and part-time state Department of Transportation technician fights against sometimes long odds to restore a watershed […]
Public and non-profit organizations in Grays Harbor, Thurston and Lewis counties are receiving about $6 million in state grants this spring for 28 habitat restoration projects in the Chehalis River Basin. Most of the projects will replace barrier culverts that have blocked fish passage, and altogether will open more than 130 miles of streams to migrating […]
