Nason Creek project awarded 2022 Silver Award from ACEC Washington

The Washington chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) awarded the Nason Creek Upper White Pine Stream Channel & Floodplain Habitat Enhancement project with a Silver Award in 2022.

In the 1950s, the formerly meandering Nason Creek was straightened into a confined channel hemmed in by a railroad, a levee, and powerlines. A multi-phase effort was initiated by Chelan County in 2014 to remove and relocate human constraints and to restore the river and floodplain habitats. This included removing a levee, re-routing a power line corridor, and creating a half-mile of new meandering stream channel re-connected to a vegetated floodplain.

Construction occurred in multiple phases over three years, from 2016 to 2018. Specific accomplishments of the project included relocating approximately 4,000 feet of Chelan Public Utility District’s powerlines out of the floodplain; creating a new sinuous 2,000-ft channel alignment; removing 2,400 feet of levee; creating 2 backwater alcoves; planting 8 acres of floodplain; and installing 14 large wood fish habitat structures. A key objective was to restore the ability of the stream to access its floodplain. The project resulted in a change from 1 acre of connected floodplain to over 13 acres of reconnected floodplain.