Herrera’s Mashel River Restoration was presented with the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) highest award for Washington State projects: a Gold Award in the category of “original or innovative application of new or existing techniques ”. This is the second ACEC win for Herrera our Hoh River Engineered Logjam Highway 101 Protection Project took home the Gold in 2005. Below is a clip from the Daily Journal of Commerce.

Best in State Gold Awards

Gold award for original or innovative application of new or existing techniques
Winner: Herrera Environmental Consultants
Project: Mashel River Salmon Habitat Restoration
Owner: South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group

In 2004, the Nisqually Indian Tribe released a multispecies management plan for the Nisqually River Basin which identified the Mashel River as being among the highest priority reaches for habitat restoration. The goals were to reconnect the floodplain, bring wood back into the river and protect development while enhancing the river’s salmon production capabilities. The South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group brought in Herrera Environmental Consultants to help find a solution that would encompass mainstream, riparian and off-channel habitats as well as floodplain reconnection. Herrera designed 13 engineered logjam structures to reconnect the river to its floodplain and take advantage of mature existing vegetation. The man-made logjams obstructed the river flow and raised water elevations enough to inundate secondary channels and portions of the floodplain. This was critical in maintaining salmon populations as well as floodplain function and biodiversity.