Wishkah River Tributary

The Brueher fish barrier correction was removed and a 4.5′ round steel culvert was replaced with a 40′ long by 15′ wide concrete bridge on the main access road for the landowner. The stream has a bankfull width of 12 ‘ in a low gradient wetland area. Further upstream is a more defined channel with ample LWD, good riparian cover with mixed native shrubs and deciduous and conifer over-story. The streambed substrate is primarily sediment based because of the low gradient which includes beaver dams that provide prime coho rearing capabilities. The stream extends roughly two miles above the project site including 1/2 mile of streambed gravels suitable for coho, cutthroat trout and chum spawning. According to the landowner this stream had chum in it historically but not recently. The stream below the barrier culvert is primarily wetland with a county road splitting it 1/4 mile downstream of the project site. The remaining 1/4 mile below the county road to the river is tidally influenced wetlands from the Lower Wishkah surge plain.