The Quinault River Valley still has the elements necessary for salmon and people to thrive, but it needs our help.
Engineered log jams will create more slow-moving side channels for blueback sockeye to spawn in the Quinault River.
To build the log jams, contractors take 60-foot timbers, stand them up and drive them into the soil about 30 feet deep.
More logs are dropped in between the timbers and everything is tied together. Construction crews fill in with soil and gravel to create massive islands in the river.
The pilot project is creating five engineered log jams and reinforcing one natural log jam in a two-and-a-half mile stretch of the Quinault River.
These massive log jams are designed so trees can grow on them and ultimately bring more natural log-fall back into the river.
Root wads will trap sediment and soil in the river and create pockets where salmon and other fish and wildlife can rest and feed.
The clear blue-green waters of the Quinault River reflect its origins high the glaciers of the Olympic Mountains—glaciers that are at risk from climate change.