Himalayan Blackberry Removal

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This week our Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) crew was busy cutting Himalayan blackberry at a new project along the Samish River. Removing invasive species like blackberry is often the first step in restoration, and creates the opportunity for our field crews to plant native trees and shrubs. Over the next two years, SFEG will plant 2,300 plants across 13 acres at this site. When completed, this project will improve over 1,500 linear feet of stream habitat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Before and after photos of blackberry brush removed by a WCC member 

 

 

At a site near the town of Sedro-Woolley, SFEG crews used a tractor to till an area that was previously a dense thicket of invasive Himalayan blackberry. Tilling helps break up the compacted soil and makes blackberry roots easier to remove by hand. Our Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) crew then planted native trees and shrubs in the tilled area. When the project is completed, 2,500 native plants will be planted to improve over two acres of riparian habitat.

(Left) Joe George, our Restoration Coordinator, tills the ground to make blackberry root removal easier.

 

(Right) Removed blackberry roots

 

 

 

Floods with a Purpose by Tim Hyatt, fall 2003

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This article was written by Tim Hyatt, Hydrologist and former SFEG board member, after the 2003 floods on the Skagit River. Its message seems as timely today.

The recent floods on the Skagit River and elsewhere reminded us all that rivers are dynamic systems with harsh penalties for humans and fish that can’t adapt to occasionally extreme conditions. But whereas humans have the option of moving uphill, fish have to either find a refuge somewhere in the river system or else be swept downstream, often to a premature death. While it’s clear from the counts at the Mount Vernon smolt trap that high floods greatly reduce salmon egg-to-fry survival, floods also create and maintain the habitats on which salmon and other fish, plants, and animals depend.

High flows provide ecological benefits by maintaining ecological diversity and productivity. A dynamic patchwork of different habitats—in mainstems, side channels, tributaries, estuaries, sloughs, braids, and wetlands—is necessary for fish to find the habitats they need at different stages of their life cycles. So the mainstem this year may be the side-channel or slough next year, and it is the flood flows like we had last month that trigger these shifts in habitat. Over time the off-channel areas— especially side channels and sloughs–change in character and develop a higher diversity of plants, insects, and habitat types. This higher diversity is often linked with higher productivity as well. After a few years or decades the side channels may once again become the main channel, but in the mean time they have provided some very valuable spawning, rearing, and refuge habitat. Without floods these side channels more quickly become colonized by trees and shrubs, and eventually become blocked or filled or otherwise useless as fish habitat. Maintaining these off-channel habitats, and their connectivity to the mainstem, is crucial for wild salmon to survive.

High flows cause the gravel and fine sediment in the riverbed to move around, in both favorable and damaging ways. Floods inevitably move, re-arrange, and sort the gravel, creating high-quality spawning beds free of fine sediment. Spawning gravels that fill up with fine sediment either suffocate the eggs or trap them in place before the salmon fry have a chance to emerge. Stirring up and sorting the gravel also encourages growth of the aquatic insects upon which salmon and trout feed. Depending on the timing, floods can destroy the eggs that have already been laid, but here too the fish have evolved a mechanism to partially withstand such assaults. Recent studies in the Nooksack basin are showing that egg damage during floods is much less likely in the off-channel areas than in the mainstems, so again the habitat-forming mechanism at work during floods is more important than ever.

High flows, if allowed to function in natural systems, have numerous other ecological benefits. Most of the plant species one finds on river banks are adapted to life in areas with frequent floods, and many of these plants, namely cottonwoods, often can’t get established without barren, wetted areas free from competition— exactly what is left behind after a flood. Floods draw big and small trees and logs into the channel, and it is this large woody debris that, when incorporated into the channel, provides most of the high-quality rearing habitat necessary for young salmon and trout. Floods rejuvenate the floodplain (in both wild and agricultural areas) and encourage the growth of healthy streamside plant communities. Floods clear new areas where noxious weeds can easily take hold, but they also prevent non-native species (both plants and fish), that are not adapted to frequent flooding, from getting established.

Floods have always been with us and always will be. The challenge seems to be to recognize and accept the inevitability of floods and get out of the way. Frequently the most cost-effective means of flood control is to allow the river room to shift and expand. This not only cuts down on revetment maintenance, it also makes for better fish habitat. Trying to limit large floods by increasing dam storage, and trying to limit damage by putting levees close against the low-flow channel, not only deplete tax coffers and destroy fish habitat but often fail as well. Floods like the ones this fall undoubtedly destroy many salmon redds, but they also create and maintain off-channel habitats. So floods may actually be a good thing, if we have the wisdom to let them function naturally.

A flooded field

The flooded East Fork Nookachamps restoration site in fall 2003

Adventures at Ennis: A Snapshot of Salmon Surveys in the Field

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While explaining work as a SFEG Spawner Survey Intern, I’m usually met with one or a combination of three faces: blank confusion, bewildered support, or instant intrigue. Most people would imagine being bundled up in multiple layers, out in the frigid winter weather, and hiking some nebulous trail along a random stream counting fish. To a certain extent, they wouldn’t be wrong.

 

The temperature most days settles around the high 40’s, but often feels much colder under the canopy of trees. Truth be told, I hardly feel the cold regardless of the knee-high glacial melt and frigid air once we get moving. It’s the one day I look forward to every week, rain or shine.  Once a week, there’s a chance to catch a glimpse of salmon spawning in their native stream.

 

On an offshoot of Highway 9 is one of the most important tributaries in the Samish Basin. It’s the spawning ground to one of the state’s most iconic organisms and a cultural touchstone of the Pacific Northwest: salmon. At first glance, Ennis Creek can easily be overlooked. It’s a sight that is representative of thousands of other streams all over Washington State that are currently or once historically salmon-bearing streams. It might not even occur to you to wonder if salmon make the 1000-mile trip to this very creek to ensure the life cycle continues.  Ennis Creek is merely one of the dozens of streams SFEG monitors through their volunteer program to determine the success of restoration efforts and evaluated by the WDFW for escapement forecasting.

 

Ennis Creek, a site my field partner, Casey, and I survey, is more than 0.7 miles of hard terrain changing frequently due to seasonal windstorms and natural hydrological processes. Starting in October, we bundle up in SFEG provided gear – an assortment of thermal wear, raincoats, life jackets, reflective vests, waders, and gloves – before we begin the long hike to our designated endpoint, a waterfall which is the natural end of salmon access in this waterbody.

Despite following the same stretch of stream to a fixed destination, every week is a new adventure with new challenges. It’s amazing to watch the stream change in these short periods of time. In climate weather will cause alterations to the stream. Windstorms can fall trees into the stream, providing natural woody debris to alter the streamflow and streambed. Intense rainfall and natural flooding can completely change the topography of the stream channel.

 

Weather and stream changes aside, our main goal is to document the presence or absence of salmon spawning within these select sites of the Skagit and Samish watersheds. With the data collected during the course of these surveys, SFEG is able to determine prospective restoration sites and monitor the success of past efforts.

Each week we climb over new treefalls, cut through dense native plant thickets along stream banks, and side-switch with careful consideration to these potential new redds. When female salmon find locations suitable for harboring offspring, they dig these gravel nests called redds. For several weeks, we find no presence of salmon. However, keep our eyes peeled for the first tell-tale signs of fish. This could be a flash of movement cutting through the water, an inexplicable dark shadow hovering in the stream, or evidence of gravel nests that can’t be explained by natural stream hydrology. Granted, looking for these signs pales in comparison to actually counting salmon, but it’s a critical period to establish baseline channel characteristics before salmon arrive.

It’s not until several weeks later, at the start of November, that we will see the first signs of coho at the mouth of the creek. Our flutters of excitement accompany the vibrant red bodies of coho, nearly hidden within the shade of the bridge at the starting point. From absolutely zero fish from the week before, suddenly there were hundreds.

Historically, thousands of coho once used Ennis Creek to spawn. The Ennis Creek site remains as one of the main spawning grounds of the upper Samish River Basin. Despite its significance to the local salmonid population, Ennis Creek has suffered significant habitat degradation from straightening, dredging, inadequate culvert placement, and redirection into a roadside ditch in the past. SFEG and affiliated agencies have restored the historical channel and re-established the channel across a major fish barrier into the Samish River.

 

As we conduct our survey, I can’t help but feel a sense of awe walking along the streambanks. We eagerly log of the number of fish, both live and dead, and their redds. Already, we are recording significant increases of salmon at Ennis, and other locations, in comparison to past years. It’s yet to be determined if populations will surpass historic milestones, but 2021 appears to be promising.

 

There’s something both humbling and impressive about being immersed in habitats used by these anadromous fish. We have witnessed their resilience while acting upon millions of years of instinct and genetic memory to ensure the next generation of offspring is successful. It’s endlessly rewarding to see firsthand the effects of restoration efforts made by organizations like SFEG; effects that make a difference toward a species with long lasting impacts on both humans and the larger interconnected ecosystem. This is an experience I have been incredibly lucky to both participate and contribute through SFEG’s Spawner Survey program. I would eagerly recommend the program to anyone interested in the Skagit Watershed, salmon ecosystem and population restoration, or community planting parties.