NSD + CGS provided a geomorphic assessment, conceptual design, hydraulic analysis, risk assessment, and design services to the Lummi Nation for the Larson’s Reach restoration project on the upper South Fork Nooksack River. The project aids restoration efforts for South Fork Spring Chinook salmon, an integral component to the greater recovery of Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed salmon within the Puget Sound. General simplification of the reach through human actions such as timber harvest, removal of natural logjams, channel confinement, bank armoring, loss of available side channels, and installation of road crossing structures led to loss of habitat within the Nooksack watershed and are attributed to the recent decline in salmon abundance within the WRIA1 resource area. Project design elements increase pool and off-channel rearing habitat, promote the development of channel anabranching, and increase floodplain connectivity. Following our assessment of Phase I that indicated the channel had incised, we developed designs for multiple large ELJs be constructed to the recent incisional trend and achieve restoration goals. Construction was complete in 2014.
Photography: Daniel B. Nylen