For Landowners

Are you interested in making a stream on your land a better place for salmon?

The Chehalis Basin Collaborative for Salmon Habitat coordinates getting State Salmon Recovery Funding to public and private landowners to conduct voluntary restoration and protection on their land. Since 1999, we have helped obtain funding for 141 projects around the Basin. The types of projects that have been completed in our basin include:

Removing barriers to salmon migration
Planting native shrubs and trees on stream banks
Installing large woody material to create complex stream habitat
Protecting key habitat areas through property acquisition
Removing invasive vegetation

These projects depend on supporting the needs of landowners — it couldn’t happen without You!

JB McCrummen’s 21 acres of paradise in rural Rochester includes a great variety of native plant species designed to attract the property’s diverse wildlife. P. Dunn

Get Technical Assistance

Grays Harbor Conservation District staff at the Satsop River

Conservation Districts provide resources to help landowners complete voluntary projects on their land. Each of the four counties in the Chehalis Watershed have their own Conservation District.

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program helps eligible landowners plant trees around streams. The Irrigation Efficiencies program helps private landowners save water and aid in salmon recovery.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has other resources to help you out. Their Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) can pay to replace fish-blocking culverts, plantings, fencing, stock watering, and more. Contact NRCS to get financial and technical assistance to make improvements to your land that will improve its function and benefit salmon. Read more here: Washington | NRCS QIP|

Chehalis Basin Streamside Landowner’s Guide

Your stewardship of the stream on your property has a real, positive impact in supporting clean water, abundant salmon, diverse wildlife habitat, drainage, flood and erosion control on your property –with rippling impacts throughout the basin.

Check out: Chehalis Basin Streamside Landowner’s Guide

Make your property “salmon friendly”

Adding native plants to your land is one way to help recover salmon populations. Below is information about some local native plant nurseries that can help you get started adding native plants to your land:

Thurston Conservation District (TCD) Annual Spring Native Plant Sale: Native Plant Festival & Sale – TCD
Blossom Organics Garden Store, 4711 Black Lake Blvd Sw Olympia, WA, www.blossomera.com
Rochester Greenhouse – Weyerhaeuser Company, 7935 Highway 12 SW, Rochester, WA (360) 273-5527; Seed and Seedling Availability/ Weyerhaeuser
SilvaSeed, 317 James St. Roy, WA, T: 253.843.2246, www.silvaseed.com
Aldrich Berry Farm & Nursery: 190 Aldrich Rd, Mossyrock, WA (360) 983-3138; Aldrich Berry Farm and Nursery
Watershed Garden Works. 2039 – 44th Ave. Longview, WA (360) 423-6456; Watershed Garden Works | Longview WA | Facebook
Tree Management Plus. Toledo, WA 98591. 360-978-4305; Tree Logging | Tree Management Plus, Inc. | Toledo, WA
WACD Plant Materials Center. $500.00 minimum order. 16564 Bradley Rd. Bow, WA: (360) 757-1094, WACD Plant Materials Center
River Refuge Seed Company (native seed only) 26366 Gap Road. Brownsville, OR 97327; (541) 466-5309; Native Restoration River Refuge Seed | Oregon

How to Reduce Bank Erosion and Help Salmon

Eroding river banks are prevalent throughout the Chehalis River and its tributaries. Erosion is a natural process but changes we’ve made in our watershed can increase the extent and magnitude of erosion. Fortunately, there are techniques for reducing the negative impacts of bank erosion on private property while improving fish habitat. These include:

Protecting the existing “first defense” to bank erosion: native shrubs and trees along the river’s edge.
Many riparian invasive plants lack complex root structure to stabilize banks the same way natives do, especially species like knotweed. Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board
Looking after the “toe” of an eroding bank by leaving wood in a stream, or employing bioengineer approaches to enhance the bank, if needed.

Your local Conservation Districts can visit your property and help determine what sort of work you can do to slow bank erosion on your property. If you live in Mason County, contact Mason Conservation District, Thurston County, contact Thurston Conservation District, for Lewis County residents, contact: Lewis Conservation District, in Grays Harbor County, contact: Grays Harbor Conservation District. The WA State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) can help determine what kinds of projects you can get a permit for on your land. If you live in Lewis County, contact: Daron Williams, Daron.Williams@dfw.wa.gov. In Grays Harbor County, contact: Brandon Carman at Brandon. Carman @dfw.wa.gov. WDFW is working on an Erosion Management Program for the entire Chehalis Basin. For more information: Erosion Management Program – Chehalis Basin Strategy.

Living With Beavers

Beavers like salmon are known as keystone species as their dams create vital wetlands that help to reduce downstream flooding damage from large storm events, increase biodiversity, improve water quality, and much more. For information about Beaver in the Chehalis Basin, read these publications: Beavers: Vital for Salmon and a Healthy Chehalis Watershed and Beavers Build Climate Resilience and Help Salmon.pdf

Beavers as ecosystem engineers can be distressing to streamside landowners. The organization “Beavers Northwest” has tips about how to co-exist with beaver. Download the brochure on ways to coexist with beavers. Got Beavers? Coexistence Strategies.

How to Find a Project Sponsor

If you want to get started on a salmon recovery or protection project on your land, your first step is to find a Project Sponsor in your area. The Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) grant application process is complex and competitive. Having a Project Sponsor who has gone through this process before will increase your chances of getting your project funded. If the project is successfully funded by the SRFB, the Project Sponsor also implements the project. Consider contacting your local Conservation District or regional Fisheries Enhancement Group to ask if they would serve as your project’s sponsor. For a list of possible Project Sponsors, go to: SRFB Information

Watershed Hero Stories

Everyone has a role in salmon habitat protection and restoration. Below are links to stories about Chehalis Basin residents who are protecting natural resources through work on their land and in their community.