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).
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).
Phase 2 of the Upper Cottonwood Creek Instream Restoration project includes installing low-tech process-based restoration (LTPBR) structures on two additional sections of Cottonwood Creek, covering 2.6 miles. The restoration efforts will focus on the installation of beaver dam analogs (BDA) and large woody debris (LWD) to improve LWD retention, attenuate flows, enhance floodplain connectivity, aggregate sediment, and increase riparian hardwood productivity. These measures will result in increased physical complexity within the channel, providing benefits to steelhead and their habitat. Phase 2 will also integrate upland restoration work, which includes a 70 acre precommercial thinning unit and a 60 acre juniper cut near the project area. Forestry work within the unit will provide wood for instream work and complement other forestry work with the Cottonwood Creek Drainage. The proposed unit is overstocked with a mixture of conifer species, which negatively affects forest health, reduces water availability, decreases available forage and habitat for wildlife, and increases the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
Partners for this project include the landowner, Monument SWCD, The Warm Springs Tribe, USFWS, and ODFW.
