Under this contract Cascade Fisheries (CF) will implement a river restoration project, the Goodwin Side Channel, which is located on the Wenatchee River RM 11.2 - 11.5. The project will address the highest priority limiting factors in the Wenatchee River - Ollala Canyon 01 Reach including Cover-Wood, Off-Channel/Side Channel, Riparian Canopy, Temperature-Rearing, and Floodplain Connectivity. Implementation of this project will improve summer and winter rearing for ESA-listed spring chinook and steelhead, as well as summer chinook and coho.

The stated project goals are:
1. Improve rearing habitat in the side channel by increasing connection to groundwater;
2. Enhance the floodplain and side channel habitat functions through improved surface water connection
with the river while taking advantage of the benefits provided by groundwater inflow;
3. Promote native woody vegetation cover throughout the floodplain by planting where current non-native,
invasive reed canary grass patches exist and preserve existing mature native riparian forest;
4. increase large woody material cover and habitat complexity.

The project will achieve the following objectives upon implementation:
1. Create approximately 1,450 linear feet of new of side channels. New side channels will have a surface water connection with the Wenatchee River at and above the 50% exceedance interval (1,810 CFS).
2. Enhance approximately 1,150 of existing side channel habitat. Existing will have a surface water connection with the Wenatchee River at and above the 50% exceedance interval (1,810 CFS).
3. Install 82 Wood Habitat Structures (WHS), including two in the mainstem Wenatchee, to improve salmon habitat complexity and cover and to promote geomorphic processes that form and maintain habitat.
4. Install 1 rock inlet structure to promote side channel inlet longevity and promote safe river recreation.
5. Create 35 groundwater connected pools within the floodplain side channels. These pools will be connected to groundwater year-round. They will provide cooler water rearing habitat in the summer and warmer water rearing habitat in the winter.
6. Remove 1 levee to install the new side channel and to improve surface water connectivity to an existing riverine wetland.
7. Increase floodplain inundation 2,850% (from 0.02 acres to 0.64 acres) at the 50% exceedance flow (1,810 CFS)
8. Increase floodplain inundation 70% (from 4.44 acres to 7.50 acres) at the 1.5 year recurrence interval (15,400 CFS)
9. Restore and expand wetland and riparian vegetation communities by planting 3.9 acres in native species.

Significant human infrastructure including the Burlington Northern railroad, Highway 2, fruit orchards, homes, and towns along the lower Wenatchee River have severely impaired instream and off-channel habitat (TetraTech 2017). In Reach 5 of the Wenatchee River, where this proposal is located, 54% of the floodplain is disconnected, and there is 0% off-channel habitat. The surrounding reaches are similarly
limited: Reach 4 has 66% floodplain disconnected and 4% off channel habitat, while Reach 6 has 62% of floodplain disconnected and 0% off-channel habitat. The lower Wenatchee is a Major Spawning Area for steelhead, foraging and overwintering habitat for bull trout, a spawning and rearing area for summer Chinook, and migration corridor for sockeye, spring Chinook, summer chinook, coho, steelhead, and bull trout (Table 1) (ibid) (Andonaegui 2001). Juveniles of all three ESA-listed species rear in the lower Wenatchee.

The Goodwin Side Channel (GSC) falls within the Wenatchee River Ollala 01 reach of the Wenatchee River – Ollala Canyon Assessment Unit within the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Region’s prioritization scheme. This Assessment Unit is listed as a tier 1 priority for Steelhead restoration. At the reach scale, winter rearing is listed as a high priority life stage for both spring chinook and steelhead, while summer rearing is a medium priority life stage for steelhead.

In addition to Bonneville Power Administration, we are grateful to our partners at the Salmon Recovery Funding Board, the HCP Tributary Committees, and Bureau of Reclamation.

This is a final contract and will not be renewed.