If you’ve walked the lower Tahuya River corridor lately, you’ve probably noticed the bear tracks and salmon carcasses that line the banks each fall — signs that something worth protecting is still alive here. Thanks to a multi-year land conservation push by Great Peninsula Conservancy, 190 acres along the lower Tahuya River are now permanently protected, and the harder work of actual habitat restoration is moving into its next phase.
The Tahuya River Preserve sits in eastern Mason County, straddling the watershed that drains into Hood Canal near Belfair. Great Peninsula Conservancy assembled the preserve in stages — 145 acres acquired in July 2023 with support from the Washington Department of Ecology Streamflow Restoration grant and the state Salmon Recovery Funding Board, followed by an adjacent 38 acres in December of that year, and two smaller parcels totaling about five acres in 2025. Taken together, the preserve now protects roughly 450 feet of Tahuya River mainstem and is designed as the anchor point for a larger phased effort to conserve the lower four miles of the river.
Why does this stretch matter? Both Hood Canal summer chum salmon and Chinook salmon use the Tahuya River watershed — and both are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, headquartered at 600 NE Roessel Road in Belfair, has been monitoring juvenile salmon using rotary screw traps on the Tahuya, Dewatto, and Little Quilcene Rivers each spring. Their data guides where restoration dollars go next.
The most anticipated near-term project is the removal of a Gabion wall — a wire-cage rock structure that alters natural stream flows — from the Tahuya River corridor. Great Peninsula Conservancy is working with the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group on removal plans. Once the wall comes out, engineers are also weighing the installation of log jam structures upstream to mimic natural wood accumulation that juvenile salmon depend on for cover and food.
These aren’t quick projects. Permitting, hydrology studies, and contractor coordination mean the removal is still in planning rather than construction phase — but the land protection piece that makes any of it possible is done. Our river isn’t going anywhere.
For anyone who wants to learn more or get involved, Great Peninsula Conservancy is based at 6536 Kitsap Way in Bremerton and can be reached at (360) 373-3500 or greatpeninsula.org. The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group is at 600 NE Roessel Road, Belfair; (360) 275-9284.
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