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Cruiser Creek (Elkhorn Watershed) Enhancement Project Click photo to enlarge In 2004, the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began discussing opportunities to collaborate on habitat enhancement within the Elkhorn drainage. Straddling ODF and BLM land, the 6th field Elkhorn Watershed lies within the Trask River Watershed, one of the five major sub-basins in the Tillamook Bay Watershed. The first such collaborative effort within the region, the project offered a unique opportunity to leverage the efforts of state and federal landowners towards common restoration goals. TEP managed the $190,000 project on behalf of the agencies and several other partners. Elkhorn and Cruiser CreeksThe Elkhorn Creek watershed, which includes the Cruiser Creek drainage, has been identified in the BLM's Salem Resource District's Management Plan as a Tier 1 Key watershed and in ODF's Northwest Oregon Forest Management Plan as a Salmon Anchor Habitat. In partnership with BLM, ODF completed the Trask River Watershed Analysis in August 2003. Cruiser Creek provides essential habitat for coho, steelhead, fall chinook, cutthroat, and Pacific lamprey. Cruiser Creek is also listed as a priority stream for riparian and instream restoration in TEP's Trask River Watershed Assessment and the Tillamook Bay Watershed Council's (TBWC) Trask River Action Plan. Limiting FactorsHabitat conditions in the Cruiser Creek watershed are far from optimal. Barriers to fish passage, low pool densities, lack of floodplain connections and refuge habitat, bed scour in reaches constricted by roads, and a lack of wood (which the stream will not recruit naturally for 30-50 years) all contribute to degraded habitat conditions. Fish Passage Barriers Culvert 1 Culvert 2  Culvert 3 - before Culvert 3 Instream Habitat Loss The highest levels of streambank erosion were identified in the East Fork of the South Fork of the Trask and the Elkhorn Creek subwatersheds, each having an average streambank erosion of 30%. Within the project reach, only 13.9% of the banks are actively eroding. On Elkhorn Creek, at least 59 landslides have been documented (Chapter 3, Trask River Watershed Analysis). Riparian Habitats and Large Woody Debris Recruitment GoalsThis comprehensive, collaborative project had three watershed restoration goals:
Goal 1: Increase the amount of critical habitat available to salmon
Goal 2: Enhance spawning and rearing habitat for salmon
Goal 3: Reduce sedimentation and increase riparian diversity and future large wood recruitment
Culvert Replacements (achieving Goal 1) Activities: Three culverts on ODF land were replaced with larger pipe culverts that are fish passage friendly (embedded in the stream and as wide as the stream channel).  Culvert 1 - after Above the instream restoration reach, an additional two miles of coho, steelhead, and cutthroat spawning and rearing habitat were made accessible through the replacement of three fish barrier culverts which impeded juvenile and adult migration. Fish passage and bedload movement shall be improved with the installation of the three new properly functioning culverts designed by ODF. Culvert 1 was replaced with a 117" wide x 79" high, 46' long pipe arch culvert. Embedded with a resultant slope of 6.5%, the culvert will facilitate fish passage over simulated natural stream bottom conditions. Culvert 2 was replaced with a 128" wide x 83", 55' long pipe arch culvert. This culvert is embedded at a 3.5 % resultant slope. Culvert 3 was replaced with a 137" wide x 87" high, 78' long pipe arch culvert. This culvert is embedded at a 2.6% resultant slope. It is recognized that the embedded culvert slopes are still slightly high relative to generic fish passage slope standards. However, the channel gradients of these two streams are naturally high. The culvert slopes need to correspond to the natural channel gradients or unnatural stream conditions will result at the crossings. Fish passage will be greatly improved because excessive drops at both culverts have been eliminated, water velocities greatly reduced, and channel substrate present within the culvert bottom. Channel Complexity (achieving Goal 2) Activities: Instream enhancements on 1.5 miles of ODF and BLM land included mobilizing 145 trees (67 with rootwads, 78 without) and 140 boulders (1 - 2 cubic yards each). Additionally, log/boulder structures and alcoves were constructed with an excavator.  Constructing log and boulder structures Under the guidance of ODF and BLM biologists, approximately 1.5 miles of instream habitat on the Cruiser Creek mainstem was enhanced through the addition of 140 large boulders and 145 trees to the stream, resulting in 40 to 80 key pieces of large woody debris per mile, with at least half of the trees still bearing their rootwad. The placement of trees and boulders, which are present but in low quantities, will improve channel complexity, provide habitat, and add enhance stream productivity. Project benefits to coho, steelhead, and cutthroat include enhanced spawning and rearing habitat, and escape cover from predation. The structures will also aid in gravel storage and routing processes. A few structures were cabled and/or pinned to ensure stability. Measures were employed to avoid cabling and pinning (such as using oversized logs with attached rootwads and building complex, "keyed-in" structures) throughout the instream restoration reach. However, cabling and pinning activities were needed to ensure the stability of the structures and that downstream structures, such as bridges, are protected. Riparian Enhancement (achieving Goal 3) Activities: A mix of native trees was planted on five acres of ODF and BLM lands. Five riparian acres were planted throughout the project area with 320 native conifer species (hemlock, western red cedar, Douglas fir) and 1,500 native red alders. Riparian enhancements will increase riparian diversity, and provide future shade and large woody debris to the stream. All riparian plantings were planted in Riparian Reserve land use allocations on federal lands, and Riparian Management Areas on state lands in accordance with their respective land use plans. There are no plans to harvest the trees that will be planted in these protected areas. Road Decommissioning (achieving Goal 3) Activities: Project area roads on ODF and BLM lands were decomissioned through removal of stream crossings, installation of waterbars, and blocking of vehicular access points.  Ripping up a road and removing drain culverts Decommissioning 3.35 miles of forest roads (Cruiser Creek, Elkhorn Creek, and Laughlin Creek Roads) is the final major component of this project. Decommissioning legacy roads reduces sediment sources and the potential for blowouts that result in large pulses of fine sediments into the system. Restricting vehicular traffic, resulting in reduced run-off and impacts to the riparian area, will further decrease potential sources of sediment input to the creek. Decommissioning activities included pulling back unstable sidecast road fills, installation of waterbars where needed, and blocking access to prohibit further vehicular use. A Unique PartnershipThis project, which received attention from a Portland news station, has initiated a truly unique partnership and marks the first of what the partners believe will be many habitat enhancement opportunities. BLM and ODF ownership patterns are a mosaic throughout Northwest Oregon. Both agencies undertake enhancement projects throughout their watersheds, but collaboration can become cumbersome due to the unique administrative rules each must adhere to. As a third party, TEP is uniquely suited to coordinate the necessary activities while adhering to the standards and practices of each agency. As part of this project, BLM, TEP, and ODF have entered into a formal Cooperative Agreement. The function of this Agreement will be to not only identify the roles and expectations of each partner, but to identify similar collaborative opportunities in the future. Through this Agreement, BLM and ODF can work under TEP project management/administration, ensuring that both agencies' restoration activities enjoy economies of leverage and scale, while proceeding at a watershed scale. PartnersThis project was a collaborative effort bringing together nine different entities.  Coho spawning in Cruiser Creek Tillamook Estuaries Partnership: lead project manager, partner coordination, grant management, contract preparation, fiscal administration |
