Tommy Cianciolo, Director of Trout Unlimited’s Klamath Restoration Program (in waders, center) describes what tour attendees should expect to see when exploring the site. Here, the group gathered just inside a cattle exclusion fence that protects the restoration work from grazing.
On a sunny Monday in late July, a crew from Trout Unlimited hosted a tour for about a dozen restoration practitioners on a working cattle ranch 30 minutes outside of Bly, Oregon in the Upper Klamath Basin. The tour highlighted early results from a recently-completed low-tech process-based restoration effort on the North Fork Sprague River. The project was designed to address several impairments, including channel incision, loss of floodplain connectivity, and loss of wetland habitat while perserving the ranch’s ability to graze cattle. Among other benefits, the work is expected to improve habitat for native fish, including Redband Trout and eventually Chinook salmon.
The group arrived at the site late morning. Everyone donned waders and wading boots before heading down to the restoration site to prepare for the marshy conditions. Despite the heat and extended drought hitting the region, the area around the restoration work had ample cool, clear water running through it. Participants proceeded with caution through the uneven terrain and pockets of deep water throughout.
Trout Unlimited led the project, with contractors Swift Water Design and Anabranch Solutions installing a total of 104 low-tech process-based restoration structures on approximately one mile of stream. Three types of structures were installed along the creek: beaver dam analogs, woody debris accumulations, and post-assisted log structures. These structures all function in slightly different but complementary ways. Together, they work to restore floodplain connectivity, increase groundwater recharge, improve natural flows and sediment regimes, support the return of native riparian vegetation, and create inviting habitat for a wide range of native terresterial and aquatic species. At the project site, active channel length increased from 0.8 miles to 2.0 miles, and active channel wetted area increased from 0.1 acres to 4.1 acres. And beavers have returned to the area and are starting to take over required “maintenance” activities!
The Trout Unlimited team describes the role of post-assisted log structures (PALS) in capturing and sorting sediment, reducing turbidity, and providing fish habitat on the site.
The project was a part of the “Big Swing” effort on the Sprague River, which is intended to improve water quality and support other critical restoration activities in the watershed while maintain working ranchlands. The project was funded by the Paul Allen Family Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Other project partners included the Upper Klamath Basin Agricultural Collaborative and the private landowner.
Trout Unlimited will continue to monitor a variety of metrics to understand how this type of restoration impacts the riverscape, including stream temperature, groundwater levels, riparian vegetation extent and productivity, instream habitat, beaver activity, fish density and size, floodplain connectivity, and riverscape morphology (the shape and structure of the stream and surrounding landscape).
A beaver dam analog (BDA) on the North Fork Sprague River
In all, this project is one example of how riverscape restoration can improve water quality and create much-needed habitat for a variety of native flora and fauna in the Upper Klamath Basin, while preserving the cattle operation. Seeing so much water on the landscape in the midst of an exceptionally dry summer was a great reminder of the benefits that can result from these types of strategic investments in restoration.