Grande Ronde Basin Fish Habitat Enhancement Project

Project No. 198402500

Vance R. McGowan

Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife Funded by:

Bonneville Power Administration

Initiated in 1984….

• Our overall goal is to protect and restore riparian and instream habitat for ESA listed salmonids & improve natural fish production.

• Work is done on private lands.• We prioritized our projects based on

watershed assessments, & we work in streams where spawning and rearing occur or have occurred in the past.

ODFW/BPA Fish Habitat Projects,Grande Ronde Basin

Projects

La Grande

Enterprise

Limiting Factors

• High summer water temperatures• Low summer flows• Loss of riparian vegetation• Poor instream habitat diversity• Loss of floodplain connectivity• Unstable stream channels & sedimentation• Inadequate fish passage

A Balanced Approach Combining…

• Protection of habitat- using 15 year leases with private landowners

• Passive restoration- using fencing

• Active restoration- when streams are not likely to recover in an acceptable time frame (includes plantings, instream structures or natural channel designs)

Meadow Cr. Ppt 6, Meadow Cr. Ppt 6, Pre-project,1998Pre-project,1998

Floodplain Floodplain Tail seepTail seep

84 deg F !!84 deg F !!

Habitat Limiting Factors: High Summer Stream Temperatures, Low Summer Flows, Poor Riparian Vegetation, Poor Instream Habitat, Wide & Shallow Channel, Loss of Floodplain Due to Old Railroad Grade…..

72 deg F72 deg F

over 90 Rb/St concentrated in a “coldwater” seep (72 F),1 square meter in area, 3 inches deep

Salmonids seek out cooler water…

However….Out of the frying pan into the fire! High Stress and Mortality from overcrowding, lack of cover, and predation.

Free lunch for a Free lunch for a Garter snake Garter snake eating a juvenile eating a juvenile steelheadsteelhead

Before…..

Meadow Cr, Meadow Cr, Ppt 6 1998Ppt 6 1998

72 deg F72 deg F

84 deg F84 deg F

3 years later…limiting factors were addressed using fencing, large wood additions, natural regeneration, conifer plantings. (ODFW, CTUIR, NRCS,GRMWP project)

Meadow Cr. Meadow Cr. Ppt 6, 2001Ppt 6, 2001

FencingFencingLWDLWD

Natural Natural RegenerationRegeneration

PlantingsPlantings

Removal of old Removal of old RR grade, 1998RR grade, 1998

Old railroadOld railroad Exclosure FencesExclosure Fences

Hillslope to hillslope protection.

ODFW, CTUIR and Salmon Corps planted over 10,000 conifers on this project.

Large Wood provides complex habitat = Fish Magnets

Chesnimnus Creek, 8 years recovery

1992

2000

Solar Powered Off-channel water sources.

Milk Creek Natural Milk Creek Natural Channel Design Project, Channel Design Project, July 2001,July 2001,(Shortly before water transfer)(Shortly before water transfer)

Riparian fenceRiparian fence

Highway 203

1250 ft. of new channel, 1250 ft. of new channel, Rosgen C4Rosgen C4

New 5’x10’New 5’x10’CulvertCulvert

Catherine Creek

DitchDitch

Milk Creek, Milk Creek, highway ditch, highway ditch, 85% riffle 85% riffle sinousity = 1.02sinousity = 1.02

Newly constructed channel, November 2000

August 2001, two weeks after water added.

Milk Creek, July 2001- New Culvert and Water Transfer

An interagency project by Eastern Oregon University/Hall Ranch, ODFW, Oregon State Forestry, Oregon Dept. of Transportation, OWEB

Old methods die hard…Bear Cr. 2000

Longley Meadows Project Planning, 2001

Cooperative projects with Cunha Ranches, ODFW, CTUIR, GRMWP, NRCS, USFS

Grande Ronde R.

Jordan Cr.

Bear Cr.Bear Cr.

Old RR gradeOld RR grade

Alternative #1, Alternative #1, Channel Channel RealignmentRealignment

Project Monitoring

• Photopoints• Transects• Stream Temperatures• Biological Surveys

(Redds, Juvenile Population Estimates, plant growth/survival)

• Rosgen Levels II-IV• Streambank Stability,

Undercuts, and Overhanging Vegetation (EPA)

• ODFW Aquatic Inventory (LWD, pools)

• Additional photopoints of instream work

Coordinate with other agencies- Oregon State University, Pacific Northwest Research Lab, ODFW/La Grande Research, ODEQ, EPA, etc.

Ongoing New

Project Milestones:• Monitored improvements in stream health (shade,

temperature, W/D ratios, & No. pools, etc.)

• Signed lease agreements on 42 projects• Constructed 106 miles of exclosure fences,

protecting 62 miles of critical listed salmonid habitat

• Planted 97,000 trees and shrubs• Constructed 32 offsite water systems,and installed

2,900 instream structures• Working cooperatively we used “State of the art”

natural channel design on 5 miles of streams• Continued maintenance/monitoring of all

projects

New & Ongoing Projects

• Longley Meadows/Cunha Ranches: Bear Creek, Jordan Creek, Grande Ronde River & wetlands complex

• Wallowa River/Scott: fencing and instream • Wallowa River/Baker: fencing and instream • Ladd Creek/LMWA: natural channel design• Rock, Sheep & Graves creeks: road relocation, fencing and

instream• Hurricane Cr/Lathrop: fencing and instream• Little Creek: fencing and instream• Retrofit existing projects: Large wood additions, RR grade

removal

We have ready and willing landowners!