Ediz Hook Restoration

Efforts

Efforts describe the goal-oriented activites of workgroups

• Knowledge Creation
  • Adaptive Management
  • Arts and Crafts
  • Lessons
  • Monitoring
  • Research
• Protection
  • Acquisition
  • Green Infrastructure
  • Regulation
• Restoration
  • Beach Nourishment
  • Engineered Log Jams
  • Fish Passage
  • Revegetation
• Social Change
  • Advocacy
  • Coordination
  • Education
  • Funding
  • Integrated Ecosystem Management
  • Legislation
  • Planning

Effort References

• RCO's PRISM Project Search
• Salmon Recovery Portal
• Ecology's Administration of Grants and Loans
• USACE Regulatory In-lieu Fee and Bank information Tracking System

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Ediz Hook is part of the greater Port Angeles Harbor Ecosystem. Sediments to sustain the hook come from both the Elwha Watershed and feeder bluffs on the drift cell between the Elwha and the spit. Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has led work to restore beaches on the inside of the hook, through fill removal, removal of derelict structures, drift log placement, Eelgrass planting, and Beach Nourishment.

Notes

• Eelgrass appears to be present, but declines as you move toward the inside of the hook. It is unclear what drives this change. There is some question of how nutrient discharge and fill in the nearshore affects potential Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in the Port Angeles Harbor Ecosystem.
• A section of fill was removed from the beach adjacent to the City Boat Ramp.
• Other structures have been removed from along this shoreline.
• Beach Nourishment efforts led by the Tribe have aimed to maintain beach texture and slope on the inside of the spit (See RCO PRISM Project Snapshot)
• Inside of Ediz Hook was identified by NRDA process as one of four focus areas for restoration.
• US Coast Guard station is located at the end of the hook with opportunities for restoration of backshore habitat. Station improvments have resulted in mitigation to offset impacts.
• Drift cells to the west have been impacted by armoring along a water pipeline that prevents erosion of bluffs. That water pipeline was constructed to support industrial facilities in the harbor. With the decline of industrial activities, is unclear whether that water supply is now necessary or useful. Housing has now been built along the crest of that bluff, such that resumption of bluff recession may have impacts on private residential property.
• Because of interruption of Ediz Hook is currently maintained by placement of sediment along the outer edge of the hook to prevent erosion. With the Elwha Dam Removal and resumption of river sediment discharge, there has been some discussion of reducing that sediment placement.
• Galster & Schwartz 1990 ediz hook case study erosion and mitigation provides an analysis of sediment budgets.

Questions

• How does USACE and other parties share the cost of sediment placement?
• To what extent do private landowners benefit from the pipeline and associated armoring preventing erosion, at public trust expense?
• What is the distribution of SAV and what is affecting this distribution?
• What is the extent of Forage Fish spawning along these beaches, and how has restoration affected that.

Chronology

• 2024 - completed eelgrass planting with NRDA resources and surplus turions from Coast Guard mitigation.

a beach which projects out into deep water due to the interaction of abundant sediment supply and wave refraction

particles of clay, silt, sand, gravel, or cobble, transported by water, are called sediment.