Lower Deer Creek

The Lower Deer Creek Enhancement Project is located on Deer Creek in the McKenzie River Sub-basin at river mile 49 near the unincorporated community of Nimrod. The Lower Deer Creek Enhancement Project seeks to enhance impaired aquatic habitat conditions that have affected native fish including ESA-Threatened spring chinook salmon, Oregon Sensitive coastal cutthroat trout, and rainbow trout.

History

Past harvest of stream adjacent forests and salvage of downed trees from within floodplain areas have reduced large wood loading in and negatively impacted long-term recruitment potential from riparian areas.
Establishment of an extensive road system covering over 60 miles within the sub-watershed has further impacted riparian areas and reduced large wood recruitment potential.
Possible historic stream cleaning practices have also removed large wood from streams and floodplains.

Design

Increase storage and routing of both sediment and organic matter.
Modify and maintain channel geomorphology and habitat types important to salmonids.
Alter flows by changing velocity and facilitating floodplain connection.
Retain smaller organic and dissolved materials important to primary producers.

Implementation

A total of 123 trees were harvested along Goodpasture Road, 43 trees were cut and 80 trees were tipped over with the root wad intact.
Large wood was decked at 14 staging sites adjacent to the stream channel.
An excavator was used to place wood at 19 sites in Deer Creek. Each structure site received anywhere from 8-15 pieces of wood.

History

Design

Implementation

Pre-Project

Post-Project