Middle Fork Nooksack - A generation ago

This is a picture of a large stump within the active channel migration zone of the Middle Fork Nooksack River in Whatcom County. Historically, the floodplain of the Middle Fork floodplain was filled with trees of this size that worked to hold the channel in place and create complex habitat types and quantities for salmon. With the removal of the large wood and floodplain forest the river channel now migrates rapidly across the floodplain creating unstable banks reducing the quality and quantity of salmon habitat.

Lesson of the Day - A river channel and its floodplain vegetation are connected and changes in one effect the other.