Calapooia Watershed Council

Working to Improve the health of the watershed

The Middle Reach of the Calapooia River, spanning from Sodom Dam (RM 28) to the former Brownsville Dam site (RM 36), has been identified as “Dynamic river corridor for protection and restoration” by the Council’s 2004 Action Plan. The Calapooia Watershed Council has completed the Middle Calapooia River Project Implementation Plan, which incorporated local knowledge and technical guidance from numerous landowners and agencies. The eight-mile reach was divided into four sub-reaches. Reach 3 (R3), located immediately west of Brownsville in the Mid-Willamette Valley, is a 1.62 mile section of river with significant side channel and mainstem salmonid rearing and holding habitats. Through extensive planning efforts the Council has nearly completed OWEB-funded designs for all five landowners along R3, which will compliment multiple, large conservation easement projects and on-going EPA monitoring activities. Fish species that will benefit include spring Chinook and winter steelhead, cutthroat trout, and Pacific and western brook lamprey.  Proposed projects will provide the cool instream and off-channel refugia preferred by these species. OWEB funds will be used to improve riparian functions, add instream structure, decrease sedimentation using innovative stabilization techniques, reconnect off-channel ponds, and side-channel restoration/conservation, to allow this reach to become a hospitable area during low summer baseflows and provide refuge during high winter flows.

Restoration, Stabilization, and Conservation Projects (River Design Group, 10MB)
An outline of proposed restoration, stabilization, and conservation projects are proposed for R3.  The Calapooia Watershed Council is working with landowners to enhance river and floodplain habitat in R3.

Reach 3 Site Plans
Landowner 1  (11MB)
Landowner 2  (11MB)
Landowner 3  (9MB)
Landowner 4  (10MB)
Landowner 5  (20MB)

Photos of the Reach 3 Sites can be found here

Middle Reach Historic Channel Maps

Historic Reach 1
Historic Reach 2
Historic Reach 2
Historic Reach 3
Historic Reach 3
Historic Reach 4
Historic Reach 4
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