Grande Ronde Basin Fish Habitat Enhancement Project Project No. 198402500 Vance R. McGowan

1
Grande Ronde Basin Fish Habitat Enhancement
ProjectProject No. 198402500Vance R. McGowan

• Oregon Department of Fish Wildlife
• Funded by
• Bonneville Power Administration

2
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.

3
ODFW/BPA Fish Habitat Projects,Grande Ronde Basin
Projects
Enterprise
La Grande
4
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

5
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)

6
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..
84 deg F !!
Floodplain Tail seep
Meadow Cr. Ppt 6, Pre-project,1998
72 deg F
7
Salmonids seek out cooler water
over 90 Rb/St concentrated in a coldwater seep
(72 F),1 square meter in area, 3 inches deep
8
However.Out of the frying pan into the fire!
High Stress and Mortality from overcrowding, lack
of cover, and predation.
Free lunch for a Garter snake eating a juvenile
steelhead
9
Before..
84 deg F
Meadow Cr, Ppt 6 1998
72 deg F
10
3 years laterlimiting factors were addressed
using fencing, large wood additions, natural
regeneration, conifer plantings. (ODFW, CTUIR,
NRCS,GRMWP project)
Plantings
Natural Regeneration
Fencing
LWD
Meadow Cr. Ppt 6, 2001
11
Removal of old RR grade, 1998
12
Hillslope to hillslope protection.
Old railroad
Exclosure Fences
13
ODFW, CTUIR and Salmon Corps planted over 10,000
conifers on this project.
14
Large Wood provides complex habitat Fish Magnets
15
Chesnimnus Creek, 8 years recovery
1992
2000
16
Solar Powered Off-channel water sources.
17
Milk Creek Natural Channel Design Project, July
2001,(Shortly before water transfer)
Riparian fence
1250 ft. of new channel, Rosgen C4
New 5x10 Culvert
Highway 203
Ditch
Catherine Creek
18
Milk Creek, highway ditch, 85 riffle sinousity
1.02
19
Newly constructed channel, November 2000
20
August 2001, two weeks after water added.
21
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
22
Old methods die hardBear Cr. 2000
23
Longley Meadows Project Planning, 2001
Bear Cr.
Alternative 1, Channel Realignment
Jordan Cr.
Old RR grade
Grande Ronde R.
Cooperative projects with Cunha
Ranches, ODFW, CTUIR, GRMWP, NRCS, USFS
24
Project Monitoring
Ongoing New

• 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.
25
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

26
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!