The Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership and the U.S. Forest Service are improving habitat on a mile of Hamilton Creek in Skamania County.  The project will increase the amount of habitat needed by juvenile salmon and increase the sediments necessary for adult salmon to spawn.  Construction began in mid-August, and heavy equipment such as excavators and dump trucks are on-site now.  Local access may be closed for the next four weeks until the work concludes.  The stretch of Hamilton Creek where work is being done has been damaged by wildfires and timber harvesting.  To restore the area, crew members will add 200 pieces of large wood to the creek and plant 9,000 conifers and willows.