Cottonwood Creek Instream Restoration Response Monitoring

  1. The proposed project is located in northwest Grant County approximately 13  miles south of the town of Monument, Oregon in the Cottonwood Creek drainage  (HUC 170702020905).
  2. Cottonwood Creek was historically an important  steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) producing tributary for the North Fork John  Day and still has potential to support large numbers of steelhead. However,  habitat degradation and the range expansion of invasive smallmouth bass  (Micropterus dolomieu) have greatly reduced Cottonwood’s ability to support  steelhead production. Previous work has shown that smallmouth bass are  widespread in Cottonwood Creek and are both competing with and consuming  (inferred) juvenile ESA-listed (threatened) summer steelhead (OWEB  220-6033-17390) . A proposed restoration plan by the Monument Soil and Water Conservation District would install beaver dam analog (BDA) and large wood  structures over a 12-mile reach of Cottonwood Creek, with the goal of creating  colder, more complex habitat that is more suitable for juvenile steelhead than  smallmouth bass and would potentially serve as barriers to smallmouth dispersal. 
  3. This monitoring project would assess the efficacy of BDAs and potentially  reduced stream temperatures, as barriers to smallmouth bass immigration while allowing native fish passage. Hydrological monitoring will also take place to  determine if BDA and large wood jam construction causes changes to flow  downstream of the restoration area out of concern that restoration could potentially decrease available water downstream during critical low flow periods. To provide additional information about how bass may use the Cottonwood Creek  restoration reaches in the future, we will also study smallmouth presence and  distribution in Bridge Creek, where BDAs have been in use as a restoration tactic  for over 15 years.
  4. Project partners include Monument Soil and Water Conservation District and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife