Upper Quinault River - Alder Creek Side Channel

I got to wake up next to this and spend the day out on the Olympic Peninsula and Upper Quinault River yesterday. The Upper Quinault is a very dynamic large river that is the focus of one of the largest restoration efforts in Washington. The goal of the restoration effort is to first protect high value habitat areas and second to promote channel stability through the installation of engineered logjams (ELJs). ELJs were developed through the pioneering work of Dr. Tim Abbe and are intended to mimic natural stable logjams that were once historically prevalent in Western Washington rivers.

This is a picture of an ELJ and associated scour pool constructed in 2008 by the Quinault Tribe and designed by Dr. Abbe to protect an important side channel of the river by encouraging the river to move in a different direction. The ELJs built as part of this effort are working great and having the intended effect which is great to see.