Washington uses helicopters to fly 6,000 logs into remote streams to restore salmon habitats

PC: Courtney Flatt/Northwest Public Broadcasting Helicopters were used to place more than 6,000 logs into remote streams in central Washington as part of Northwest’s largest river restoration efforts. The project focuses on remote waterways inaccessible by road and aims to restore habitats for salmon and bull trout. According to Northwest Public Broadcasting, the work covers more than 24 miles of streams across the Yakama Reservation and ceded lands. The logs create pools and sheltered areas for fish, while trapping gravel that fish use to spawn. They also reduce the speed of the current, allowing water to spread across floodplains, seep into the ground, and gradually return to streams.How are helicopters transporting thousands of logs to remote streamsThe project involves Yakama Nation habitat biologists and partner organizations, including The Nature Conservancy and Mid Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group. At the time, fisheries specialists often viewed large log jams as barriers that prevented fish from moving freely.That approach has since changed, with the project returning more than 6,000 logs to waterways across Central Washington. Helicopters carried the timber from stagin...