On Saturday morning, Boistfort resident Nikki Atkins laughed when telling a group of community members she was being paid to be there.
Why else would she miss the first day of elk season?
But Atkins, who acts as the watershed liaison for the Lewis County Conservation District, wasn’t the only community member swapping hunter’s orange for an umbrella on Saturday. A couple dozen joined for a tour of a habitat restoration project on Stillman Creek, a tributary of the South Fork Chehalis River, led by Celina Abercrombie, Chehalis Basin Strategy manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). The strategy is a multi-agency project throughout the basin meant to pursue work that can mitigate flood damage and restore aquatic species populations.
Meeting on Lost Valley Road, the camouflage-clad community members, Gore-Tex sporting guests, denim-decked residents and one barefoot woman displayed the diversity of people and interests around the Chehalis River and tributaries. Differences aside, nobody seems to want salmon to go extinct in Washington’s second-largest river basin, whether for culture, spirit, sport or diet. That shared goal applied — for salmon and other aquatic species — drives 50% of the Chehalis Basin Strategy.
“We’ve seen significant decline in fishery resources for decades and decades,” Abercrombie told the group on Saturday. “A lot of the research says if you do the work to bring more complex habitat and more of it for fish, that it can benefit fish populations.”
She explained forestry practices, agriculture and the general growth of modern civilization have all played a role in habitat decline. With the Chehalis Basin Strategy’s Aquatic Species Restoration Plan, she said, work is underway or complete basinwide including on Stillman Creek and other salmon strongholds such as the Skookumchuck and Satsop rivers.
Considering the length of time it has taken for the habitat to get where it is, she said, it will take a long time to restore, too. The results aren’t meant to be witnessed overnight, but to safeguard future generations of fish stakeholders.
Log jams and other rip rap on Stillman Creek provide respite for salmon while scouring deep holes in the gravel creekbed for nesting. Trees have been planted and the riparian zone on either side of the creek has been fenced off, thanks to landowners who agree not to tamper with the space for a minimum of ten years, Abercrombie said.
“First, we have to have willing landowners. Without willing landowners, obviously, we have nothing,” Atkins said when asked to list the most important things for residents to know about habitat work. “I’m so grateful for people willing to let us do this on their property. Then, for two is that if we don’t start somewhere, nothing will ever get done. Whether it’s a small project or large project, every project helps to restore the habitat that once was in the basin.”
Abercrombie said the process has also included Boistfort residents beyond those who own the land abutting the creek. With community member tours and meetings, people don’t have to wonder about the potentially-disruptive construction.
There is a small window of low stream levels between August and September where teams involved can do in-water projects, she said. Most of the work was completed this last summer, but there will be followup efforts next August.
For more information on the Chehalis Basin Strategy and other projects to impact fish and flooding, visit https://chehalisbasinstrategy.com/.
