Bear River Estuary

Project Overview

This project will reestablish the natural channels of 3 streams that feed into the Bear River estuary, helping to restore over 800 acres of the estuary on either side of Highway 101 to their historic conditions.

The estuary is used by chum and coho salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout. We will remove more than 5 miles of dikes, numerous ditches and culverts, 2 fish ladders, and 1 tide gate to restore access to historical spawning beds in the 3 streams.

In addition, we will build a public hiking trail from the soon-to-be built Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center at 95th and Sandridge Road in Ilwaco, WA. The trail will proceed along Tarlatt Slough and terminate at a viewing platform in the refuge's Riekkola Unit.

This project is funded by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington State – Salmon Recovery Funding Board, and Willapa Bay Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group. Design consultants are AMEC Earth & Environmental, and CTS Engineers.

Design Development

The project design will include 4 elements:

• Estuary restoration, including removal of the dike, ditches, culverts, and a realignment of 3 streams at the dike estuary interface
• Removal of 2 fish ladders and 1 tide gate
• Trail construction to a new viewing platform
• Monitoring protocol development: baseline and post monitoring

South Willapa Bay Topographic Survey. Click to view document (PDF, 8.5MB, 9 pages)

Project Schedule