Category Overview
Conserving land along our waterways protects important habitat and helps keep our rivers healthy, clean, and more resilient to drought. Riparian Protection projects conserve and restore fresh and saltwater habitat while protecting fish habitat. In doing so, the grants help provide our families, farms, and fisheries with clean water across the state.
Project Highlights
This Project merges WWRP Riparian funding (22-1279) with PSAR Large Cap funding (22-1356) to acquire two properties totaling 672 acres for conservation and restoration. The WWRP Riparian funding was awarded to protect 550 acres of vital riparian habitat, salmon-bearing tributaries, upland forest, and forested floodplain in the South Fork Nooksack River Valley as part of Phase I of the Stewart Mountain Community Forest (SMCF). The SMCF is a collaborative effort to adopt ~5,500 acres of forestland into local ownership to be managed as a working forest that enhances a range of uses and community benefits. Phase I consists of the most ecologically and geologically sensitive portions of the future community forest, where Whatcom Land Trust will own and steward the land for habitat conservation and restoration. The property contains nearly two miles of streambank on the South Fork Nooksack River, as well as over a mile of fish-bearing tributaries in steep inner gorges. In 2021, severe weather caused a mass die off of 2,500 pre-spawning Chinook, as well as a debris flow and stream avulsion on Stewart Mountain. These events show the pressing need for riparian conservation on the east side of Stewart Mountain, to protect both wildlife and people in the South Fork Valley. Long-term protection will allow for incremental improvement in forest structure to increase riparian shading and woody debris recruitment, while also stabilizing steep inner gorges and stream banks. The PSAR Large Cap funding was awarded to support the acquisition of 550 acres in Phase I of the SMCF described above, and to protect an additional 122 acres of floodplain and riparian habitat that is currently disconnected from the SF Nooksack River. Once funding is secured for restoration design and construction, several hundred feet of historic levee along the left bank will be removed to reconnect 130 acres of floodplain to the river. This project will also facilitate implementation of the lower portion of the Nooksack Indian Tribe’s South Fork Nooksack River Fish Camp (Ts’eq) Reach Integrated Design Project allowing for significant instream restoration work. This project provides a unique opportunity to integrate forest management with adjacent floodplain ecosystems and ensure fully connected ecosystem and watershed function.