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debris from streams in the previous decades may have actually diminished 

 productivity in many areas. The upper Chehalis, from Fisk Falls at Mile 113 

 upstream to several miles beyond the ForkB of the Chehalis, exemplifies this 

 problem. 



Stream Channel Destabilized . Logging can also reduce fish production by 

 reducing the stability of the watershed and the streambed. To the degree that 

 logging roads and other activities accelerated the natural process of Blope 

 failure, they led to an unnaturally high rate of bedload and silt accumulation 

 (Oederholm and Reid 1987). This can lead to an unstable stseameed, in which 

 higfc flows tend to rapidly sttift the channel, scour spawning gravels, and wash 

 fry that cannot hold their position against the flow downstream. Porter Creek 

 is a likely case of gravel and sand loss attributable to logging. 



Recent Forest Practices Ieprovements 



The current trend seems to be slow but steady progress toward compatibility 

 between forestry and fishery resources. The last decade has seen intense 

 interagency effort to make timber harvest compatible with fishery values. In 

 1980, in Phase II of C.S. vs. Washington, Judge William Orrick ruled that fish 

 habitat protection was a treaty right (Cohen 1986). This led to tribal 

 participation in fish habitat protection on the technical and management 

 levels. The specter of continual controversy over the relation between 

 fisheries and forest practices led to the development of the Timber, Fish, and 

 Wildlife Agreement (TFW), wherein all principal parties influenced by forest 

 practices have an opportunity to participate in reducing the detriments. 



The 1990 decision to list the Northern Spotted Owl as a federally threatened 

 species resulted in a reduction of old growth timber harvest which should 

 reduce some stream degradation to the benefit of salmon and steelhead. 



Gravel Mining 



As the Basin population grew and roads replaced rivers for log transport, 

 gravel for roads and general construction came into high demand. Gravel 

 extraction from the wetted channel became popular shortly after the end of the 

 splash dam era, since river-run gravel is especially useful for road-building. 

 At first, draglines and clamshell buckets were commonly used to remove gravel 

 from pits in the main river channel. 



By 1945, WDF required permits for such work, and applications increased 

 annually (WDF 1986). In the 1950s, WDF recognized the damage and prohibited 

 gravel mining in the wetted channel. However, gravel mining was allowed to 

 continue on the dry bars during low water. The Humptulips was the main gravel 

 producer, followed by the Satsop and Wynoochee. 



Since then, progressively stricter state and county regulation has eliminated 

 the most damaging effects, and has also successfully encouraged operators to 

 seek gravel from off-channel sources. In 1960, WDF permits further restricted 

 gravel mining by requiring gravel removal by bar scalping, as opposed to pit 



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