Winter in the Watershed – 2019
It might seem that winter is not the busiest time of the year for us, but we are busy with projects and preparations for the spring season’s events!
Developments this winter include the hiring of our new Administrative Specialist, Fiona Julian. Fiona moved to Oregon with her family from England back in 2002 and is delighted to be offering her support and experience to the CWC! We’re really enjoying and benefiting from her fresh outlook and approach to the work of the watershed. If you call or email the office, it will likely be Fiona that answers!
Our website now has a fresh new look and is filling up with all the information you might ever want to know about the CWC. We hope that before too long, all our project information will be updated too. We’ve also added an Events page, and expanded the information for our Youth Education Programs!
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Within Our Reach – Watershed Conference
Calapooia Watershed Council staff were fortunate to attend the fifth biennial Within Our Reach in December, a gathering of river restoration professionals, funders, landowners, public agencies, scientists, Tribes, students, and community members united in the pursuit of a healthy, resilient Willamette River system. Within Our Reach explores the ecological, social and cultural dimensions of river health, from restoring the habitat and connecting people to the river to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within the Willamette River restoration movement.
The conference provided a space to reflect on the challenges facing the river and its tributaries, learn about restoration and protection efforts within and beyond the Willamette, and craft strategies to realize our vision of healthy ecosystems and healthy communities.
This year’s conference was the largest yet, with more than 300 attendees and provided rich discussions and presentations from a wide variety of agencies and organizations, all sharing values and passion for the protection of the Willamette River Basin. Many important discussions were seeded during our two days together and we’re grateful for being a part of the growing community and collective work for the Willamette Basin.
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Project Updates
TubRun Riparian & Wetland Prairie Restoration
Tub Run Creek is a tributary to the Little Muddy River. Tub Run Creek is outside of the Calapooia Watershed, although it is within the Calapooia Watershed Council’s service area. Once an abundant ecosystem within the Willamette Valley, native wetland prairies have declined dramatically in extent since the mid-1800s due to a variety of factors including agricultural conversion, urbanization, drainage, and colonization by invasive and woody vegetation.
Today, wetland prairie habitat is regarded as one of the most imperiled in the Willamette Valley ecoregion, with less than 2% of its historic range remaining (Johannessen et al. 1971, Towle 1982). Restoration components to be implemented include: restoring 36 acres of farmland to wetland prairie, and restoring 37 acres of degraded riparian habitat. Project partners include a private land owner, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, Linn Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Calapooia Watershed Council.
This winter the Calapooia WC, with the help of R. Franco Restoration, planted over 64,000 native trees and shrubs on 37 acres of riparian forest to widen the buffer. This enhanced riparian buffer will provide increased shading to buffer stream temperatures, provide future large wood recruitment to increase instream complexity, and filter run-off from nearby agricultural operations. The species planted included big leaf maple, white alder, pacific willow, thimble berry, swamp rose and red osier dogwood. In addition to work in the riparian zone, the council and landowner have been busy working to restore the 36 acres of wet prairie habitats. There, we have constructed seven vernal pools and reconnected a historic side-channel along Tub Run Creek. The wet prairie was then seeded with native grasses and forbs.
Monitoring – Wild Winter Steelhead and Stream Temperature Monitoring
In winter 2019 and 2020, CWC will be conducting winter steelhead redd surveys to create a baseline of adult escapement from 2 different cohorts of fish, as well as collect summer water temperature data through the deployment of temperature loggers. The project will occur on the Upper Calapooia River, between the Holley Bridge (USGS RM 45.5) and the perceived end of anadromy for salmonids (USGS RM 72.9).
Historically, the Calapooia River marked the upper end of winter steelhead distribution in the Willamette Basin, and a spawning tributary for spring chinook. These are both DPS/ESU listed species, and little is known about their distribution and life history in the Calapooia River. This data can be used to create a reach wide restoration plan that will focus restoration efforts in areas where they will be the most efficient and effective. Partners include ODFW, Weyerhaeuser, US Forest Service, Miners Association, and private residents.
Brush Creek 20-year Stream Temperature Monitoring – a partnership with Oregon Department of Agriculture
The Calapooia WC has begun a 20-year partnership (2017-2037) with the Oregon Department of Agriculture to monitor changes in stream temperature in Brush Creek, an important tributary of the Calapooia River and the location of multiple habitat restoration projects led by the CWC. The goal of the monitoring partnership is to gather long-term stream temperature data on agricultural lands in small watersheds. Then, compare stream temperature changes to changes in streamside vegetation that result from riparian enhancements.
Over the 20-year monitoring partnership, multiple temperature loggers will be placed in Brush Creek, along with periodic vegetation surveys, to assess the impact these projects have on aquatic systems. Stream temperatures can be influenced by multiple factors including: streamside vegetation, air temperatures, and stream flows. Over time, streamside vegetation can help reduce the rate of stream heating by providing shade, helping make streams narrower and deeper, and increasing water storage in the soil for cooler and later season flows.
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OWEB Linn County Grants Fact Sheet
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Education Program News
Our Education Project Managers are gearing up for a bumper spring! Starting in April, the Calapooia Watershed Council is partnering with two school districts to provide an expanded residential outdoor school (ODS) program across Linn County.
• Greater Albany Public Schools (GAPS) will be sending over 750 sixth graders to join the CWC at Camp Harlow in Eugene this April. These numbers include the addition of 3 new schools! All GAPS 6th Graders will receive at least 2 class lessons before the overnight camp. At ODS, the various activities cover four main field stations: plants, animals, soils, water. Students also participate in survival skills and a variety of outdoor recreation activities (e.g. Archery, low ropes course.)
• Central Linn School District (CLSD) is sending nearly 50 sixth graders to explore Camp Koinonia in May. This will be the 7th year that CLSD has participated in CWC’s Outdoor School Program! The CLSD students that participated in ODS last year, visited Camp Koinonia this past fall for a day of service to give back to the camp. CLSD is also adding additional classroom lessons relating to ODS so that participating students will have had 5 lessons before attending ODS this Spring.
• All of the sixth grade classes in BOTH districts will be participating in the ODS program, up from just one middle school in previous years – with 5 overnight camps total.
• Sixth grade students will be accompanied by high school leaders who will act as student mentors during Outdoor School sessions. Interested high school students first apply to the program and then chosen mentors receive specific training to provide the best experience possible.
Kristen and Savannah provided a Salmon Life Cycle lesson this winter to some very enthusiastic 3rd graders at a local elementary school. The lessons focused on the changes in coloration salmon make over their lifetime from a parr > smolt > ocean adult > spawning adult. The students chose a specific stage in the salmon’s life cycle and made fish prints to reflect the coloration and location of the salmon at that specific time.
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Raffle Update!
Tickets are selling briskly, but we still have a way to go before all 300 are gone. If you haven’t got yours yet and would like to be in the running to win this amazing 18′ Canoe, grab them now! Now that things are (hopefully) beginning to thaw, the sun and warmth will be here before we know it – someone has to win and spend their summer days sailing on our beautiful waterways in this handcrafted masterpiece, why not you?!
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Upcoming Events
Our next Board Meeting will be held on April 10th in the Community Room of Brownsville City Hall. 7 pm-8:30 pm. The public are welcome to attend.
Visit our Events Calendar and also see our events on Facebook, we have some fun stuff coming up!