This project is located within the Cottonwood/ Fox Creek watershed in Grant County, OR.
Cottonwood Creek is a 303(d) listed stream for temperature that provides critical spawning and rearing habitat to ESA-listed Mid-Columbia River summer steelhead. Elevated water temperatures and low flow significantly limit steelhead populations in Cottonwood Creek, a tributary to the North Fork John Day River (ODFW 2019).
The project will develop designs for Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration (LT-PBR) along 8.2 miles of Cottonwood Creek. LT PBR structures will enhance large woody debris retention, attenuate flows, improve floodplain connectivity, aggregate sediment, and boost riparian hardwood productivity. These improvements will increase physical complexity within the channel, providing favorable conditions for steelhead. LT-PBR structures, such as Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs), may also serve as a mechanism to restrict the upstream movement of nonnative smallmouth bass. Designs will be developed in-house by MSWCD staff in collaboration with Anderson Perry. The 8.2 miles of designs will be implemented in two phases, with the first phase being permitted as part of this project. Anderson Perry will secure permitting for the first phase of this project.
Partners include Anderson Perry, Private Landowners, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.
