Chehalis Basin Strategy

The Chehalis Basin Strategy, with its many partners, is designing and implementing on-the-ground projects to accomplish dual goals of restoring aquatic habitats and protecting residents from flood damage.  Flooding is a normal part of the Chehalis Basin, but decades of intensive land use have changed our lands and waterways, putting homes, businesses, towns, and fish and wildlife at greater risk.

The issues of salmon decline and rising flooding dangers are urgent and will intensify over time. That’s why the Chehalis Basin Strategy is putting solutions in place to protect people, fish, and wildlife now, while also planning for a more resilient future. The Aquatic Species Restoration Plan (ASRP) is a key component of the Chehalis Basin Strategy. It intent is to invest more in the natural systems that support our economy and support natural processes.

Visit Chehalis Basin Strategy website for more information

QIN Opposes Proposed Dam on the Upper Chehalis River

The Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) is closely monitoring the proposed dam on the Upper Chehalis River and the State of Washington's Chehalis Basin Strategy. Tyson Johnston, who is the Self-Governance Director at QIN, is an appointed boardmember on the Chehalis Basin Board. The Nation is also part of a team of scientists and natural resource managers developing an ambitious and comprehensive Aquatic Species Restoration Plan (ASRP) to improve and restore aquatic habitat in the Chehalis Basin.

In 2020, after review of the Department of Ecology's Environmental Impact Statement concerning the project,  QIN announced its opposition to the proposed dam, as it would have unavoidable impacts to salmon. Based on evaluation of the Environmental Impact Statement environmental study, the project would significantly harm salmon, including spring and fall chinook. QIN believes that this proposed dam would all but guarantee local extinction of spring chinook and accelerate the decline of coho, fall chinook, and steelhead runs.

The Nation's concerns about the dam's unavoidable impact on salmon, and its Treaty rights, stem from the dam's compounding, or cumulative, impacts on top of decades of decline in salmon habitat from a broad range of human activities including development, logging, road building, diking, filling in wetlands, water pollution and climate change.

The prosperity, safety and quality of life of QIN members and our Grays Harbor County neighbors are inextricably linked. The Nation feels a governmental responsibility to pay particular attention to how the Strategy will serve the needs and interests of communities in the Lower Chehalis Basin.