600 Trees Planted to Help Repair Habitat
In October, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service, and the Mid Coast Watersheds Council will place nearly 600 large plantation trees via helicopter in 9 miles of stream and in 46 acres of tidal channels and marshes in order to provide better habitat for salmon, trout, marine/forage fish and wildlife species, said Stacy Polkowske, ODFW habitat restoration biologist.
In addition, 3,000 willows stakes and 400 native trees and shrubs will be planted along the streams and in wetlands later this winter. As these trees and shrubs mature they will provide shade and, eventually, additional woody material in the stream channel.
According to Polkowske, past land-use practices have altered the natural processes that would have contributed wood material to the streams and estuaries. As a result, there is little woody material and the other in-stream complexities that would provide fish and wildlife with essential habitat for rearing, spawning and feeding.
This comprehensive, multi-location large-wood placement project includes Wright Creek, Poole Slough, Mill Creek sub-basins (Lower Yaquina), and North Fork Beaver and Peterson sub-basins in the Beaver Creek Watershed. Planting and invasive species control of riparian vegetation is also planned in the Wright Creek sub-basin.
“By taking a multi-watershed approach and working with many partners, we can accomplish an on-the-ground habitat restoration project that is ecologically significant and financially efficient,” Polkowske said.
The project is a cooperative effort funded and supported by: Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, U.S. Forest Service, The Wetland Conservancy, Oregon Department of Transportation, Eric Weiss, Joe Hitselberger, Fred van Eck Forest Trust (managed by Pacific Forest Trust and Trout Mountain Forestry), Plum Creek Timberlands, Oregon Department of State Lands, City of Toledo, Mid Coast Watersheds Council, multiple local contractors, and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This cooperation is a hallmark of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, Coastal Coho Conservation Plan, and the Oregon Conservation Strategy, which bring together a wide range of public and private partners to promote the recovery of vulnerable fish and wildlife populations.
JD: Projects to repair or restore habitat are paramount if we have any hopes of sustaining healthy wild-fish populations. Removing hatchery fish isn’t going to do the trick. Healthy habitat might.
ODFW Rescues Trapped Deschutes Trout
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will conduct a fish rescue and relocation operation on the Upper Deschutes River at Lava Island Falls the week of October 20. Fishery biologists from ODFW, along with staff and volunteers from several governmental, conservation and fishing organizations, will try to save stranded fish by moving them from shallow, isolated pools near the falls to the main channel of the Deschutes River.
Redband trout, brown trout, mountain whitefish and sculpin will be captured and relocated to the upstream main channel. ODFW will have several biologists and technicians onsite as well as volunteers during the one- or two-day operation.
“The extent of the one-mile Lava Island side channel fish rescue and relocation is daunting,” said Brett Hodgson, ODFW District Fish Biologist. “We will capture as many fish as we can with nets, seines and electrofishing units, if necessary, but it is impossible to rescue all of them.”
Some of the areas where fish may be stranded are up to a half mile from where they can be safely released back into the Deschutes River channel. The captured fish will be placed in five-gallon buckets of water equipped with small battery-operated aerators to help provide the fish oxygen until they are released. The buckets will be hand carried up or down the Deschutes River trail to the point of release by the cadre of volunteers.
“The personal safety of all those involved in the rescue and relocation effort (community volunteers and agency staff) is paramount,” Hodgson said. “Our goal is to save as many fish as possible; however, hauling five-gallons buckets filled with water and fish over rough terrain poses a certain amount of risk for all those involved.”
What may help to reduce the numbers of stranded fish is an experimental plan developed by local irrigation districts and the Bureau of Reclamation. The plan calls for a slower draw down of water levels in the river—over 12 days rather than the usual 2-3 days—in hopes more fish may be able to find refuge in the main channel before getting stranded in isolated pools.
“While hopeful this experiment will minimize the fish stranding issue, ODFW stresses the need for a long-term solution to the water-management issues on the upper Deschutes River,” Hodgson said. “We view this as a water-management issue, not a fish-management issue.”
Of concern for ODFW is that current water-management results in much higher summer flows and lower winter flows than were historically present. Natural flow at the Lava Island site was stable at approximately 1,000 cfs per second; under current water management, flows fluctuate between 2,000 cfs per second in summer and 300 cfs in winter. This limits the river’s ability to support a healthy trout population. While fish stranded in the side channel are the most visible symptom of low winter flows, the reduced winter flows impacts the trout population in the entire 55-mile reach of the Deschutes River from Wickiup downstream to Bend.
“Until there is a long-term water-management strategy that ensures sufficient winter river flows, the fish face more die-offs into the future,” Hodgson said.
The operation is aimed at avoiding a repeat of the 2013 water draw-down event that killed hundreds of fish stranded in a side channel of the Deschutes River near south of Bend. ODFW staff also will collect data on the species, size and number of fish that are rescued.
“We hope to safely move as many fish as possible to the river’s main channel and keep mortality to a minimum,” said Hodgson. “That being said, there will be fish that won’t survive these efforts.”
Last year, approximately 450 redband and brown trout, and hundreds of whitefish and sculpin, died when falling water levels left them stranded in the natural lava side channel, which normally has water only during higher flows. ODFW staff and volunteers were able to rescue about 750 trout.
This year’s effort will come just as water levels reach minimum levels. Helping ODFW with the rescue and relocation operation will be staff and volunteers from the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local fishing clubs.
“We greatly appreciate the number of people and organizations that are offering to put boots on the ground to help protect fish populations in the Deschutes River,” Hodgson said.
Editor’s note: About 50 agency staff and voluteers were able to save thousands of trout, white fish and sculpin. The fish were first electroshocked and then transported in 5-gallon buckets to the main Deschutes River from the cut-off side channel. This information was provided by Lisa Hansen and the Flyfisher’s Club of Oregon.
JD: It’s nice to see people being reactive and helping get these fish back in the water, but this problem needs a proactive solution which includes not drawing so much water so fast in the first place.