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Study will plan Calapooia River restoration
Sept. 24, 2007
News media contact:
- Tara Putney, Calapooia Watershed Council, (541) 812-7622
- Wendy Hudson, OWEB Regional Program Representative, (503) 986-0061
Editors/reporters: A complete list by county of funded projects approved by the OWEB Board is posted on OWEB’s Website at: www.oregon.gov/OWEB. Click on “News and Announcements.”
Watershed Board approves $34,000 for consultants
Soon after the demolition of the Brownsville Dam, which will help open 40 miles of the Calapooia River to fish, the Calapooia Watershed Council has received approximately $34,000 to plan future restoration projects along eight miles of the river’s middle reach.
As part of its comprehensive approach to restoring the river, the council recently received an Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board grant for a study, which has a total cost of about $45,000.
Following removal of the Brownsville and Sodom dams during the next three years, projects will restore runs of spring Chinook, winter steelhead, cutthroat trout and lamprey to the river, according to Tara Putney, Calapooia Watershed Council coordinator. “We will hire a consultant to assess conditions along this section of river and create a plan to restore runs of these fish,” she said. The ultimate goal of the subsequent projects will be to improve water quality and lower the water temperature in the river to benefit fish, she added.
John Perry, a member of the project steering committee who owns a half-mile of river frontage with 35 acres of streambank, said that he and other landowners have participated in previous projects to improve conditions along the river, “but there are many other possible locations for projects.” “This study provides a good opportunity to look at the river holistically and to target use of future dollars before proceeding with more projects,” he said.
“We need an expert to help identify priority areas for improvements and to recommend the best approaches,” he added. He said he believes there is great potential to increase the survival of young fish and to reintroduce turtles to the waterway. Perry is a member of the watershed council and serves on the organization’s Projects and Steering committees.
The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board consists of 17 members. They represent the public at large, tribes, state natural resource agency boards and commissions, the Oregon State University Extension Service, and federal natural resource agencies. The board is supported by a state agency of the same name that provides grants and services to citizen groups, organizations and agencies working to restore healthy watersheds in Oregon. OWEB actions support the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, created in 1997. Funding comes from the Oregon Lottery as a result of a citizen initiative in 1998, sales of salmon license plates, federal salmon funds and other sources. For more information, visit www.oregon.gov/OWEB or call OWEB in Salem at 503-986-0178.
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