Chehalis Basin Strategy in review: Restoration at Riverbend Ranch near Tenino seeks to balance nature and agriculture

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series highlighting projects that have been completed as part of the Chehalis Basin Strategy. These projects are implemented in cooperation with partners such as the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority, the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, the Quinault Indian Nation, state agencies, local governments, nonprofit organizations, landowners and the Aquatic Species Restoration Plan team. The Chronicle has partnered with the Office of Chehalis Basin for this series. Learn more about the Chehalis Basin Strategy at  https://chehalisbasinstrategy.com. 

The Riverbend Ranch restoration project in Thurston County supports the goals of the Chehalis Basin Strategy to protect communities from flood damage and restore aquatic species habitat in the 2,700-square-mile Chehalis River Basin.

The independent Chehalis Basin Board approved the project, which was funded by the Office of Chehalis Basin’s Aquatic Species Restoration Program and supported by staff from the Thurston Conservation District, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and other conservation and engineering professionals.

Nestled along the Skookumchuck River, Riverbend Ranch near Tenino in Thurston County is a working farm raising hay, cattle, pigs, timber and Christmas trees. The ranch also supports habitat vital for salmon and other aquatic life.

However, the river and its natural processes face significant challenges, including disconnected floodplains, degraded riparian (streamside) habitat and a lack of sufficient large native trees.

These issues make the area an ideal candidate for restoration. A large-scale habitat restoration project is now underway at Riverbend Ranch, aimed at enhancing the river’s health for aquatic life, boosting floodplain resiliency and supporting sustainable agriculture.

Project summary

The habitat restoration project at Riverbend Ranch is a voluntary, collaborative effort. The Thurston Conservation District is managing the project in collaboration with landowners at Riverbend Ranch and Sierra Pacific Industries, who provide essential access and support. The project is designed to address critical ecological challenges along the Skookumchuck River while supporting sustainable agricultural practices. The ranch is owned by the Jensen family, who are dedicated stewards of the shared natural resources on their land. For many years, the Jensen family has worked closely with the Thurston Conservation District to implement on-the-ground conservation efforts such as  planting native trees and shrubs to restore riparian buffers, constructing heavy-use areas to protect soil health and collaborating with local partners to conserve and restore degraded prairie habitat.

The Thurston Conservation District worked with the Jensen family to design a restoration project that promotes sustainable agricultural land use while reducing adverse environmental impacts on the river. These sustainable practices include installing fencing to keep livestock out of the river and to protect new tree and shrub plantings. New fencing is also necessary for conservation grazing, which prioritizes soil health and water quality by preventing mud and run-off with intentional seasonal grazing schedules and efficient rotational grazing. During the wet season, the new hardened heavy-use area away from the river also works to protect water quality. By reconnecting the floodplain and cultivating more native vegetation along the river, the Riverbend Ranch project will establish more diverse riparian habitat. The project will also help enhance salmon habitat, increase flood resiliency and promote sustainable working lands throughout the basin.

“Since 2014, the Jensen family of Riverbend Ranch has been working with Thurston Conservation District to meet their land and farm management goal,” said Mara Healy, project manager for the Thurston Conservation District. “They are dedicated stewards of our shared resources, and this project would not be possible without their voluntary participation.”

The problem

The Skookumchuck River area faces challenges threatening the health of the aquatic ecosystem and landowners’ ability to balance working agricultural lands with environmental stewardship.

• Lack of diverse and complex aquatic habitat: The Skookumchuck River lacks diverse and complex aquatic habitats to support healthy fish populations due to the absence of large wood deposits in and along the river. As a result, there are fewer deep pools for fish to hide from predators. It also means the river typically only moves at one speed instead of a natural ebb and flow. This means the Skookumchuck acts more like a highway for fish instead of offering a place for them to rest and feed.

• Disconnected floodplain: In many parts of the Skookumchuck River, the floodplain has become disconnected from the river, which reduces the watershed’s ability to handle storms, floods and other high-water events. Human activities such as damming, constructing dikes, removing log jams and clearing trees and shrubs from riverbanks have significantly harmed the environmental health of the Skookumchuck near Riverbend Ranch. When rivers are more resilient to flooding, flowing waters are slowed down and allowed to spread out, avoiding damage to surrounding natural areas and farmlands. However, in the Skookumchuck River, large pulses of water shoot down like a firehose, eroding stream banks and threatening homes, agricultural lands, businesses and infrastructure.

• Degraded riparian forests: Forests once grew along the banks of the Skookumchuck River, providing shade and other critical aquatic habitat. Over time, large legacy trees have been cut down and the landscape has been invaded by plant species such as Himalayan blackberry and reed canary grass. These pest species weaken the river system's overall health and stability by preventing native vegetation from thriving in the riparian buffers. Native plants are critical because their deep roots stabilize streambanks, prevent erosion and provide food and shelter for salmon and other wildlife.

• Lack of large native trees: The Skookumchuck River Basin lacks the large native trees that have historically provided shade, controlled erosion and offered habitat for salmon and other fish. Now, rapid erosion rates, legacy farming practices and a deficiency of native conifer trees prevent older trees from being re-established in the river bend reach area of the river. While Riverbend Ranch has some forested floodplain areas, it takes time for trees to grow large enough to function like old-growth forests, particularly providing the large woody debris needed to create habitats for fish and other aquatic life.

• Over-extended agricultural landowners: Rural landowners face unique challenges balancing farming with stewardship practices that protect natural resources. For at least a decade, the Jensen family has worked to improve water quality and protect and restore fish habitat by modernizing their operations. Despite making significant progress, expenses, time and supply chain issues remain a barrier to success. To be effective stewards, the Riverbend Ranch owners have put a wide range of measures in place including installing fencing to keep cattle out of the river, creating off-channel facilities to water livestock and constructing special heavy-use areas. Heavy-use areas help minimize mud reaching the river while providing a space to confine livestock during the winter. This prevents soil compaction, overgrazing and trampling when pastures are wet.

The project

The Riverbend Ranch project restores natural processes that support wildlife and align with landowner needs by creating new high-flow stream channels, strategically placing engineered log jams in and along the river, planting native riparian vegetation, treating and removing invasive plant species and integrating trees into the farming system.

• High-flow channel creation: The Riverbend Ranch project involves excavating three new high-flow stream channels to reconnect the floodplain while reducing water pressure and volume in the river’s main channel. The new stream channels are  located in areas with disrupted floodplain connections and carry water during high-flow events in the wet season. The channels are designed to align with ongoing farming practices such as seasonal livestock grazing.

• Strategically placed large wood: To improve aquatic habitat, reduce erosion and reconnect the floodplain, crews installed 75 engineered logjams along the Skookumchuck River. These structures reduce erosion and create deep holding pools, shallow areas and gravel bars. They also help reconnect the floodplain during high seasonal river flows, safeguarding existing side channels.

• Riparian forest planting: About 64 acres of forest is being planted along the edge of the Skookumchuck River to re-establish robust, healthy forests that stabilize stream banks and provide habitat for salmon and other aquatic life. 

• Implementing innovative agroforestry practices: Innovative practices will integrate native trees, forage plants and livestock. In riparian areas that already have an established buffer and exclusion fencing, the Jensens are adopting an innovative practice called “silvopasture” to benefit livestock health and the river. Silvopasture combines native trees, forage plants and livestock to support agricultural practices and floodplain health. Approximately 60 acres of silvopasture will be planted in seasonally grazed pastureland. The silvopasture trees will stay in place and eventually provide critical shade for cattle and improve the growth rate of pasture grasses during the dry grazing season.

• Treating invasive plants: Controlling invasive vegetation is vital to reestablishing healthy and self-sustaining riparian forests. This includes removing and treating invasive plant species.

• Project timeline spans several years: To ensure the project’s success, key activities have been carefully scheduled. During June and July 2024, work focused on out-of-river tasks such as improving access and staging materials and equipment. In August 2024, crews moved into the river to construct engineered log jams. During the fall and winter, crews planted native trees and shrubs to restore the riparian zone. In spring 2025, crews will treat invasive plant species along the ranch’s riparian areas with aquatic formulated herbicide. Looking ahead, between 2027 and 2030, continued maintenance and adaptive management will be conducted to monitor and adjust the project structures, ensuring they function as intended.

This $8 million project is fully funded by the Office of Chehalis Basin through the Chehalis Basin Strategy. Funding for earlier phases of the project, including agricultural infrastructure, came from the Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP), the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and the Washington State Conservation Commission. VSP is funded by the commission, led by Thurston County and administered by Thurston Conservation District. This program promotes voluntary, incentive-based approaches to protect critical areas while supporting agriculture. CREP, a partnership between the federal Farm Service Agency and the commission, helps conservation districts restore riparian buffers through native plantings and sustainable land management.

The impact

The Riverbend Ranch restoration project is helping to restore fish habitat, making the Skookumchuck River floodplain more flood resilient and improving the agricultural business of the landowners involved. The landowners play a key role in caring for this property, and their needs, goals and concerns have been carefully considered in the project’s design. Actions such as creating a hardened heavy-use area for slaughter will address water quality and mud issues. Exclusion fencing will protect new riparian vegetation plantings from livestock damage while still enabling efficient and optimized rotational cattle grazing.

“Riverbend Ranch is a great candidate for habitat restoration because it covers such a large geographic area, and is home to diverse wildlife and habitats, including chinook salmon,” Healy said. “Through this project we were able to make significant corrections to historical impairments to these habitats, and the natural river processes on the ranch. At the same time, we helped implement compatible agricultural and land management systems to ensure the Jensen family can steward this land for generations to come.”