This project was chosen to initiate habitat restoration in the NF Toutle watershed. LCFEG has been working in the SF Toutle since about 2007 but most of the restoration activities in the NF Toutle have been focused on the sediment plain upstream of the Sediment Retention Structure (SRS). LCFEG will maintain communication with ecologists and habitat biologists working in the Toutle watershed and the Mount Saint Helens volcano-shed. There is general consensus that working in the volitional zone (in the SF Toutle and Green Rivers) is the top priority and that secondary priorities include working in the tributaries upstream of the SRS (Bear, Hoffstadd, Castle, Coldwater) on the NF Toutle, and the key tributaries of the upper Lewis (Muddy, Clear, Clearwater) and Cowlitz (Cispus and Yellowjacket) upstream of the dams in preparation of volitional fish passage over these major dams. The Green River flows parallel to the NF Toutle in an east-west orientation, arcing from the northeast corner of Mount St. Helens westward to where it meets the NF Toutle downstream of the SRS. The ridge between the NF Toutle and Green River watersheds protected the Green River from the pyroclastic flow that permanently changed the NF Toutle valley. However, the pyroclastic flows were only one component of the eruption, and the Green River drainage was significantly altered biologically by the lateral blast which created a scorch zone and blowdown zone caused by steam and gas explosions from the volcano. After the eruption, Weyerhaeuser initiated a massive salvage effort in the blast zone including the upper Green River. They hauled as many as 600 log trucks per day out of the blast area between 1980 and 1982, salvaging over 850 million board feet of timber. Wood was salvaged from creek channels to hill tops out of fear that the downed wood and dead trees were a fire risk and created an opportunity for diseased and bug-ridden wood to spread into adjacent green timber. After they were done salvaging an area, they replanted, covering 36,000 acres over three years with 18 million trees. To many, Weyerhaeuser defeated the odds, put people to work, and turned a desolate moonscape back into a lovely, productive, green forest. These perspectives are important to remember during stakeholder outreach with the local community. Unfortunately, forest practice regulations were waived for the salvage efforts and Weyerhaeuser removed all of the downed wood from the river valleys. Fortunately, they also revegetated many of these areas. Today, the Green River floodplain and riparian management zone (RMZ) is either a monoculture of 40 42 year old Douglas fir or a polyculture of sparse red alder and invasive scotch broom. Weyerhaeuser started harvesting the adjacent hillsides around 2010 and will be clearcutting nearly the entire upper watershed over the next 10-15 years up to the Gifford Pinchot NF boundary. The project area is a depositional reach within a historically old growth forest; as such, it should be full of massive accumulations of wood and sediment. Unlike the SF Toutle, the Green River doesn’t originate from the flanks of Mount Saint Helens and therefore there wasn’t a lahar in 1980 that flushed the wood away. The wood was either removed or burned during the railroad logging era from 1900 to 1930s or afterwards during the stream cleaning era of the 1960s to 1980s. There are multiple reference reaches in the Mount St Helens volcanoshed where the wood wasn’t salvaged from the valley floor. Examples exist today of dynamic channel networks, robust riparian growth, and a fully connected floodplain. Today, the project area is prime for restoration efforts. The conifers planted in the early 1980s are over 40 years old now, creating opportunities to use local wood sources for habitat formation. The design will evaluate wood sourcing along with an array of alternative restoration strategies.