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Over the course of nearly 20 years, the Chehalis Basin Strategy has brought together local, state and tribal governments, scientists, landowners and community members to restore aquatic species and mitigate flood damage.
What started in 2009 with the establishment of the Chehalis Basin Work Group became official in 2016 when the state Legislature passed a bill creating the Office of Chehalis Basin (OCB), located within the Washington state Department of Ecology, and the Chehalis Basin Board to implement the Chehalis Basin Strategy. OCB administers funding while the independent board develops and oversees the strategy.
Western Washington's Chehalis Basin is the state's second-largest basin and is comprised of nearly 3,400 miles of streams and rivers that provide critical habitat to fish and amphibians, including salmon, steelhead, and Oregon spotted frogs, which are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Anchored by the Chehalis River, the basin includes the Skookumchuck, Newaukum, Black, Satsop and Wynoochee rivers and other tributaries.
Since 2012, the state has invested more than $152 million in over 140 flood and habitat projects within the basin. Active programs and projects include:
The ASRP is a main component of the Chehalis Basin Strategy and a priority focus for WDFW. Local and tribal governments, state agencies, scientists, community members and practitioners helped to shape the Aquatic Species Restoration Plan. First released in 2019, the plan serves as a roadmap to address declining salmon and steelhead runs and improve habitats for a variety of aquatic species in the basin.
Following the plan's release, the program developed an implementation strategy for the first 10 years (2021-31) of restoration and protection actions in the highest priority areas of the basin.
Implementing the ASRP
The ASRP's goals are to enhance natural habitat-forming processes, increase aquatic habitat quality and quantity, protect and restore aquatic species, and improve climate change resiliency in the basin.
Since 2021, the program has distributed over $28 million in state funding to project sponsors, resulting in:
Projects focus on reaches, or sections of rivers and streams, rather than the entire water body or individual parcels at one time, to improve degraded habitat and support long-term natural processes. They employ a process-based restoration approach by moving water across floodplains and creating areas of faster and slower moving water.
"The program works with a wide variety of partners to develop and implement priority projects, which involve restoring vegetation along riverbanks and placing large wood to cool the water and create areas for fish to rest," said Celina Abercrombie, WDFW's Chehalis Basin Strategy manager. "These are typically multi-mile, multi-landowner projects that better connect rivers and streams to floodplains and slow erosion, helping to reduce flood damage to working lands and local communities."
The goal is to grow riparian vegetation and increase availability of natural wood, which provides shelter for a variety of aquatic species, working with nature to improve habitat and build resiliency for the future.
Climate change is causing droughts and longer, warmer summers, resulting in lower stream flows and water temperatures too hot for aquatic life. Winter flooding in parts of the Chehalis Basin helps to create habitat and allows the ecosystem to function. However, climate change is also increasing the intensity of winter floods and high-flow events, which can damage fish spawning grounds and affect communities.
Looking ahead: WDFW priorities in the ASRP
Although the ASRP covers a wide variety of fish and wildlife, its three focal species are Oregon spotted frog, spring Chinook salmon, which have been petitioned for listing under the ESA, and coastal tailed frogs, which are considered an indicator of environmental health.
Researchers estimate salmon habitat in the Chehalis Basin has been reduced by as much as 80-87%, and current salmon populations are less than half of their historical run sizes. Spring Chinook are estimated at just 23% of their historical population in the basin.
"We're restoring natural processes and protecting high-quality, unique, and sensitive habitats," Abercrombie said. "WDFW is working to help species adapt and survive, not just now but in future changing climate conditions."
The Chehalis Basin Board plans to decide on a long-term strategy in early 2026. The board, through the Department of Ecology, recommends funding to the governor each biennium. The governor's budget recommended $70 million for the 2025-27 biennium to continue addressing aquatic species restoration and flood damage reduction actions across the basin.
"The Chehalis Basin Strategy has been steadily advancing and is now at a pivotal stage," Abercrombie said. "WDFW's values include supporting communities, and that is at the heart of the ASRP: recognizing that we must work with landowners to find good solutions to environmental challenges and that we have to engage the people on the ground that live, work and play in the basin and steward the resource."
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