The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is collaborating with the Columbia River Estuary Task Force (CREST) on implementation of the Estuary Habitat Restoration Project (BPA Project 201000400).  This project seeks to continue developing, designing, and constructing on-the-ground habitat restoration actions that benefit threatened and endangered salmonid species in the Lower Columbia and Estuary, and to undertake effectiveness monitoring of these restoration efforts. The Grays River, a tributary to the Columbia River Estuary, is vitally important to the recovery of Lower Columbia River (LCR) chum salmon because it currently has the most viable population remaining in the LCR region.  In September 2009, CREST completed the Grays River Restoration Project (BPA Project 200301300) with the goal of restoring habitat-forming processes to enhance salmon and steelhead populations in the Grays River).  The major component of this restoration project was the planning, design, and installation of engineering modifications to the channel (including the use of engineered logjams (ELJ)) intended to rejuvenate historic channel and floodplain processes.  PNNL completed pre-restoration monitoring activities on the Grays River (BPA Project 200301300) in 2009, and will undertake post-restoration effectiveness monitoring under the current project (BPA Project 201000400).  Monitoring is being integrated with restoration activities in order to evaluate restoration effectiveness and allow for adaptive management of future restoration treatments in the project area as well as other degraded watersheds in the Lower Columbia River Estuary.

Objective 1:  Restoration monitoring to assess changes in physical and hydrologic characteristics associated with channel modifications implemented in the Grays River Restoration Project.  Monitoring results will inform maintenance of installed structures and allow for adaptive management of future restoration treatments in the Grays River system as well as other degraded watersheds in the Lower Columbia River Estuary.