The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) completed a stream enhancement project on Gales Creek in the Tillamook State Forest this summer to improve stream habitat and water quality.
“The goal of this project is to restore natural stream processes and instream complexity by placing large wood into the stream channel to improve physical habitat, fish production and water quality,” said Erik Moberly, Aquatic and Riparian Specialist for ODF’s State Forests Division. “The trees, some with attached root wads, that were placed will help influence the formation of pools, spawning gravels and provide cover for aquatic dependent species.”
Gales Creek is a tributary to the Tualatin River in Washington County and is home to several important fish species including Endangered Species Act-listed Coho Salmon and Winter Steelhead. Other fish in the creek include Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout and other native resident fish species.To reduce costs, appropriately sized trees for the stream characteristics were selected from an adjacent timber sale and decked near the proposed placement sites. An excavator was used to move the trees from the log decks and place into the stream.
“Nine individual placement sites were completed on Gales Creek and a tributary while six placement sites were completed on the North Fork Gales Creek in two days,” said Moberly. “Thirty trees with attached root wads and 54 trees without root wads were used for the entire project.”
Approximately 1,500 feet of the stream was treated on Gales Creek while approximately 1,400 feet of stream was treated on the North Fork Gales Creek.
The total project costs were around $20,000 excluding some staff time to plan and implement the project.
This is not the first stream enhancement project in Gales Creek. In 2009, ODF partnered with Tualatin River Watershed Council (TWRC), Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and Stimson Lumber Company to do work on the North Fork of Gales Creek. This was partially funded through an Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) grant obtained by the watershed council; the logs were provided by Stimson and ODF. More than 100 logs were placed within a 1.2-mile stretch of the stream channel and surrounding floodplain.
In 2011, ODF again partnered with the TWRC and ODFW to enhance about a half mile of Gales Creek located Northwest of the Gales Creek Campground. This work was done with an OWEB grant and placed about 70 logs in the stream channel and floodplain. The work was completed by the Bottom Round Timber Sale.
“State Forest lands are actively managed under forest management plans to provide economic, environmental, and social benefits to Oregonians,” said Moberly. “Projects like these positively impact all three of those goals.”
For more on Oregon’s State Forests see the ODF website.