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Lottery funds help reconnect Clear Creek to floodplain
August 14, 2007
News media contact:
- Ken Delano, Grant Soil and Water Conservation District, 541-575-0135 ext. 105, kendelano@centurytel.net
- Monte Turner, OWEB, 503-986-0195
Ongoing project moves 277,000 cubic yards of rock
In early September, crews will remove mounds of river rock left over from dredge mining in order to restore pool habitat, shade, and spawning gravels for fish in almost 1.2 miles of Clear Creek near Granite.
The project relies on $175,000 in Oregon Lottery funds administered by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB). The total cost of the project amounts to about $259,000.
Clear Creek flows into Granite Creek, a tributary of the North Fork John Day River.
In the past, dredge mining activity disrupted the Clear Creek floodplain and left piles of river rock up to 10 feet high and hundreds of feet wide. Fixed in place for over half a century, the consolidated rock unnaturally constricts nearly a mile of the stream.
The rocky areas lack soil and, therefore, vegetation. In the constrained channel, rapid waters flush silt and gravels through the stream.
As a result, fish have suffered from lack of spawning gravels, limited pool habitat, and scarcity of streamside woody cover and shade. The solution is a project to move the rock back from the stream banks and reconnect the stream to the rest of the floodplain.
Project partners include Grant Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Umatilla National Forest, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, OWEB, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Acid Spill Fund, and three private landowners.
Crews began work last year, redistributing 168,640 cubic yards of rock along 0.75 miles of Clear Creek and nearby Beaver Creek between August and October 2006.
Beginning right after Labor Day 2007, Grant SWCD plans to move about 51,000 cubic yards of rock on private lands. Another 57,000 cubic yards on Umatilla National Forest land also will be treated this year.
The National Forest will continue restoration of the site and will monitor the project’s effectiveness. Silt and organic materials should remain in the creek, supporting riparian vegetation and floodplain water storage. Habitat for Chinook, steelhead, and bull trout will improve.
Photo Caption:
John Deere 230 excavators and a Caterpillar D8 bulldozer are moving rock away from Clear Creek to reconnect the stream with the rest of the floodplain.
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