Trout Creek Beaver Project planned for 2024
By Garrett Christensen on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
SUMPTER – The Whitman Ranger District (part of the Wallowa Whitman National Forest) is planning a new aquatic restoration project for 2024, known as the Trout Creek Riparian Resiliency Project, also referred to as the Trout Creek Beaver Project. When implemented, this project will see the installation of beaver dam analogs, post-assisted log-structures, and pieces of large coarse wood along a portion of Trout Creek, south of Maggie springs, near Sumpter. The goal is to mimic the impact of beaver dams on the creek and its accompanying flood plains, restoring the environment to a point similar to how it existed pre-beaver trapping in 1823. As listed in the projects NEPA form:
“The purpose of the activities proposed within the project area is to add beaver dam analogues to mimic the function of beaver dams and raise the water table upstream of the analogue structures.”
In addition to raising the water table upstream, the project aims to increase environmental diversity, and again as stated in the NEPA, “provide more miles of high quality Redband, spotted frog and songbird habitat” A full description of all proposed work (as listed in the NEPA) is as follows:
“Proposed Action:
“Project activities are in the Trout Creek (HUC 170502020104) subwatershed. The proposed action includes beaver habitat restoration, including placement of beaver dam analogue and other porous posts, fencing to release willows from ungulate, large and coarse wood placement and off/side channel habitat restoration.
The addition of large and coarse wood is to create fish habitat and hydraulic complexity through increasing roughness instream and within the floodplain and to provide additional anchor points for beaver dams. A secondary objective is to use felled wood to break up livestock trails that are having impacts on stream bank stability or aquatic objectives.
The installation of Post-Assisted Log Structures (PALs) is to facilitate erosional processes (meandering) that will provide a source of depositional material (in particular spawning gravels) and fine organic sediment that would be deposited within the large and coarse wood and BDAs. The fine soil will provide materials to help seal the BDAs and a rich growing medium for riparian plants to facilitate riparian recovery within newly wetted floodplains.
The estimated time to achieve a response is 1-5 years. There is a high likelihood of long-term success associated with these restoration actions. Similar actions have been studied and proven in the Bridge Creek Intensively Monitored Watershed (IMW on the lower John Day River) to provide beneficial improvements in riparian vegetation, water quality and fish abundance. Real long-lasting success would occur as beaver colonize into Trout Creek from the North Fork Burnt River and take over maintenance of the BDAs.”
