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Written by: Kim Quesnel Seipp, PhD

The Snoquera project is a landscape-scale forest restoration project designed to restore forests and watersheds on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The 191,000 acre project is southeast of Seattle and Tacoma and represents the culmination of a three-year planning effort firmly grounded in collaboration, public outreach, and environmental analysis.

Blue Forest is currently working with the Forest Service and local groups to develop a FRB Phase I project in the Lower Greenwater watershed of the Snoquera landscape. The 32,000 acre pilot will lead to improved water quality, flood risk mitigation, high quality aquatic and terrestrial habitat and fish passage, and forest resilience. In addition, the project has many community benefits for urban and rural communities in King and Pierce Counties with the enhancement of many recreation facilities, job creation, and economic development through restoration activities.

The outdoor tour of about 30 stakeholders, led by our partners at the Forest Service, started with an overview of the project, with beautiful views of Mt. Rainier in the background, before driving up into the National Forest to see for ourselves the need for the project and the types of planned actions. We saw an example of hydrologic dysfunction, water quality impacts and a fish barrier at a road crossing. We also saw how restoration of watershed scale processes, like those planned in the project, can benefit water quality and contribute to Federally listed fish species. We visited examples of dispersed site impacts on floodplain and riparian processes, connected aquatic restoration actions, and shifting public recreation use. Lastly, we wrapped up with a talk about terrestrial landscape restoration goals and examples of forest stand level prescriptions.

A big thank you to everyone who participated and to our partners on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and Snoqualmie Ranger District who led the tour! We are especially grateful for Forest Supervisor Jody Weil, District Ranger Martie Schramm, Fisheries Program Manager Richard Vacirca, and Strategic Operations and Shared Stewardship Coordinator Dan Kipervaser. We also had the chance to visit Cascade Water Alliance’s facilities downstream of the project area, thank you to Alison Bennett and Joe Mickelson for the tour!