SJRA LAKE BED GUIDELINES

 At a time when many government programs are fighting for survival, there’s one place the money is still flowing for now: the Great Lakes.

In the past two years, Congress has pumped $775 million into the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Continue reading “Money to restore Great Lakes fish habitat still flows”

The council’s mission is to advocate for the protection and enhancement of the watersheds’ fish and wildlife habitat and improve water quality through partnership with public and private entities, habitat restoration projects, community education and outreach and strategic planning.

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Integrated habitat

Oak Grove resident Eleanore Hunter, current chair of the Oak Lodge Community Council, told the group that the whole idea of citizens and organizations cooperating with one another is to create an “integrated habitat” for humans, animal, fish and the environment.

It’s all about “connectivity” and an “incredibly supportive community,” she added.

Restoring watershed health will ultimately result in “the ability to introduce fish [in streams] along River Road,” said Chips Janger, one of the founders of Clackamas County Urban Green, an organization dedicated to supporting tree conservation in the county.

“People who are really interested are joining together and we have a lot of power,” he added.

The tour began at Meldrum Bar State Park in Gladstone and stopped at four key locations in the River Forest, Boardman and Rinearson Creek watersheds; these watersheds all flow off Oatfield Ridge and feed into the Willamette River.

As the tour progressed, neighborhood and agency experts discussed habitat, hydrology and water quality and shared their plans to improve watershed conditions for people, fish and wildlife.

Brett Arvidson, the manager of planning and engineering for the Oak Lodge Sanitary District, talked to the group about the recent Metro Nature in the Neighborhood grant for a fish habitat restoration project in the Boardman Creek and Walta Vista area in Jennings Lodge.

The $485,000 grant will replace two culverts near the mouth of Boardman Creek with bridges, allowing fish to return to more than a mile of the creek. He said it is important to note that the grant marks a partnership among the North Clackamas Urban Watershed Council, Oak Lodge Community Council, Jennings Lodge Citizen Participation Organization, Clackamas County Urban Green and North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District.

The total cost of the project will be around $1.7 million and take between three to four years to finish, Arvidson said, because it will involve “a complicated piece of engineering.”

Watershed education

People live all around the creek, where construction will take place, so educating homeowners about watershed health is key, added Tonia Burns, natural resources coordinator for the North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District.

Residents need to be aware of the natural processes that occur in a creek and be careful about what they plant, Arvidson noted, adding, “We want to encourage shade along the creeks,” to provide the best fish habitat.

In the past, the streams were treated poorly, when they were covered up or directed into culverts, leaving fish with no place to go, noted William Wild, president of the Oak Lodge Sanitary District.

“If we can open up the Walta Vista area, we can open up a big piece of the puzzle. We have the greatest partnership with North Clackamas Parks and Recreation. We’ve been involved with them at all the parks and the Trolley Trail,” he added.

Burns echoed that statement, saying, “This new relationship with Oak Lodge is a huge asset to the parks department. There are wetlands begging to be enhanced and we can solidify partnerships and see what we can do.”

At the stop on Glen Echo Avenue, Susan Shawn pointed out that visitors could get a look at the tail end of a wetland that goes back to the East Side Athletic Club.

Although the area is overgrown right now, Shawn, a board member of the North Clackamas Urban Watershed Council and a founding member of Clackamas County Urban Green, asked the group to picture “boardwalks all the way back to the Trolley Trail.”

The tour brought together residents, watershed advocates and water quality experts, who all have a different take on what needs to be done to improve watershed health, Shawn pointed out.

Arvidson added, “But we all have to work together” to make it happen.

For more information about North Clackamas Urban Watersheds Council, visit www.ncuwc.org.

The following are Metro Nature in Neighborhood grants for Clackamas County:

Boardman Creek fish habitat restoration project

Recipient: Oak Lodge Sanitary District and Clackamas County Department of Transportation and Development.

Partners: North Clackamas Urban Watershed Council, Oak Lodge Community Council, Jennings Lodge Citizen Participation Organization, Clackamas County Urban Green and North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District.

Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant: $485,000. Total project cost: $1,667,000. Location: S.E. River Road and S.E. Walta Vista Court, Jennings Lodge.

Boardman Creek is slowly being transformed from an overgrown urban ditch to a refuge for fish and wildlife. This grant will support the keystone to the restoration of this basin – replacing two culverts near the creek mouth with bridges and allowing fish to return to more than a mile of the creek between the park and the Willamette River.

This transformation will restore instream habitat along 300 feet of the creek and demonstrate how bridges can also create a “wildlife crossing” for amphibians and land animals.

Klein Point overlook and habitat enhancement

Recipient: Johnson Creek Watershed Council and the city of Milwaukie. Partners: Willamette Riverkeepers, Milwaukie Rotary, Oregon Dental Services (ODS), Gary and Sharon Klein, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, PGE Salmon Fund, FishAmerica Foundation and the city of Portland.

Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant: $225,000. Total project cost: $670,399. Location: 1900 S.E. Jefferson St., Milwaukie.

This grant will initiate the first phase of a master plan for Riverfront Park, constructing an interpretive overlook and a new trail tracing the river bluff. Visitors will be able to stand in the shade of a magnificent old Oregon white oak. Below, they might see salmon and trout making their way into the mouth of Johnson Creek, where six acres of restored riparian habitat will provide refuge to help threatened fish species thrive.

Mount Scott Creek restoration at North Clackamas Park

Recipient: Clackamas Water Environmental Services.Partners: City of Milwaukie, North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District, Friends of Trees, North Clackamas Urban Watershed Council, Friends of Kellogg and Mt. Scott Creeks and Friends of North Clackamas Park.

Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant: $150,034. Total project cost: $450,222. Location: 5440 S.E. Kellogg Creek Drive, Milwaukie.

Restoring lower Mount Scott Creek at North Clackamas Park will balance the needs of people and fish, creating a model for improving habitat at popular recreation destinations. Located in a densely developed urban area, Mt. Scott Creek is a priority for restoration because of the salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout there.

This project will restore the stream bank and its riparian areas and remove a small culvert at the confluence of Camas Creek. It will also redesign access to the creek, installing two new visitor overlooks to reduce the heavy foot traffic that has trampled plants and habitat.

Rinearson Creek Feasibility Study

Recipient: SOLV (Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism). Partners: Willamette Riverkeeper, Wilderness International, North Clackamas Urban Watershed Council, city of Gladstone, Rinearson Homeowners Association, Robinwood Riverie Homeowners Association, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $10,000. Location: Rinearson Creek, Gladstone.

SOLV and its partners are exploring long-term restoration opportunities in the lower Rinearson Creek watershed. An independent scientific assessment will narrow down five alternatives, which include restoring a pond area and removing a dam, and will help the Rinearson Coalition pick one approach to move forward.

Meanwhile, SOLV will restore the upper watershed near Rinearson Creek, engaging volunteers through community planting days. Students will help monitor water quality, wildlife and vegetation.

Site Restoration at the John Inskeep Environmental Learning Center

Recipient: Clackamas Community College. Partners: Greater Oregon City Watershed Council, Clackamas County Office of Sustainability, city of Oregon City and Oregon State University Extension for Clackamas County.

Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grant: $10,000. Location: 19600 Molalla Ave., Oregon City.

Clackamas Community College will redevelop a five-acre environmental learning center. The project had been abandoned several years ago due to budget cuts. This planning project will lay the groundwork for a regional outdoor learning laboratory, demonstration site and natural area that showcases innovations in stormwater management, landscape design and sustainable living practices. Ultimately, the learning center will improve water quality in the Newell Creek watershed and create a network of partners committed to protecting its health.BY ELLEN SPITALERI

The EPA also awarded $994,350 to the U.S. Geological Survey to expand fish and bird monitoring along the Great Lakes’ beaches to fight botulism and other contaminants damaging wildlife. About 20 percent of that money, and 20 jobs, will come to Gary next year.

Just a few yards away from the Lake Michigan’s southern shore, in a serene part of the massive park, dignitaries gathered beneath shade trees to hear of the awards and what they will mean for the area.

Meanwhile, workers with heavy machinery continued the $28 million, RDA-funded facelift of the park nearby, including the popular Marquette Park Pavilion.

The grant to the RDA will go toward dredging the lagoon and using the soil to firm up the lagoon’s shoreline, said Cameron Davis, EPA senior adviser on the Great Lakes. Erosion and other natural forces have pounded the lagoon.

“It’s an area of concern that needs most of our help,” Davis said, adding the project will improve fish and wildlife habitats around the lagoon.

To get the money the RDA and its contractor, Ohio-based Los Alamos Technical Associates, had to agree to hire up to 20 unemployed residents to do the work. The work will include dredging soil from the bottom of the lagoon to expand the fish habitat and relocating that soil to the shoreline and other areas.

The U.S. Geological Survey also had to agree to hire 20 local employees to land its share of the federal money. The work will include collecting different animal species, including carcasses, to determine if botulism was the cause of the deaths.

“This $1 million is our tax dollars being put to good use,” said U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville. “This is an example of how our tax money can be wisely spent and put to use to put citizens to work.”

Christopher Meyers, Gary’s planning director, said the city would work closely with Los Alamos to ensure the company hires locally.

“There is the great environmental benefit, but, ultimately, it’s about creating jobs and helping the local economy,” Meyers said.Michael Gonzalez

Two acres of newly created fish habitat at the Chapman Mills Conservation Area is up and fully operating as of late summer.

A channel was cut through to connect an existing backwater bay of the Rideau to the main channel. A separate shallow embayment was created featuring a picturesque and important habitat island adjacent to the main river. Final landscaping and cleanup was done over the summer and new interpretive signs have now been installed to explain the kinds of fish and aquatic animals people will see in the area.  See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.

This new habitat project is expected to: improve water circulation through the connecting channel, create variable depths of water allowing more diverse aquatic vegetation, create spawning, nursery, rearing and food supply habitat for fish, provide new winter and summer refuge areas for fish, and improve the function of adjacent wetlands for aquatic species.

A five-year monitoring program is in place to measure habitat use by native fish species. The spring and fall surveys will also check on habitat integrity, makeup of the aquatic community and quality of the water with recommendations on how to improve any shortfalls in performance.

Steve Desroches, Ottawa Councillor for Gloucester-South Nepean and a Director of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, said “The city is proud of the partnership and cooperation that has gone into this project. All of the players – public and private alike – are to be congratulated on a good community-spirited job at Chapman Mills. It’s good for the river, it’s good for my community and it’s good news for Ottawa kids.”

This very welcome increase in the stock of fish habitat on the lower Rideau is in compensation for the partial loss of fish habitat on a tributary of the Jock River and another loss on Mosquito Creek.

NAVAJO DAM – A $300,000 fish habitat improvement project is scheduled to begin Oct. 10 on the trophy trout waters of the San Juan River below Navajo Dam.

The project is designed to enhance fishing opportunities in two ways: by reducing silt deposits from flash-flood events, and by creating deeper pools for fish during periods of low flow from Navajo Dam. The estimated completion date is Jan. 8.

“We’re excited that we can respond to anglers’ requests and move forward with this project that will make the world-class fishing on the San Juan River even better,” said Jim McClintic, chairman of the State Game Commission.

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The project contractor, AUI Inc. of Albuquerque, was expected to be on site Oct. 10. The project will include:

• Sediment removal and control at the mouth of Rex Smith Wash, an arroyo that empties into the Kiddie Hole, a fishing spot just above popular Texas Hole. Flash-flood events carry silt into the river at that point, damaging trout habitat there and downstream. The project will include building a sediment retention pond that will slow the water flow during floods, catch sediment and redirect clean water back into the river. Silt in the retention pond will be removed periodically.

• Habitat improvement work in “The Braids,” a section of the river above Texas Hole and the Kiddie Hole where water levels drop to very low levels during times of low flow from the dam. It will include digging holes in the sandstone riverbed to create deeper pools for trout. Structure such as large cottonwood trunks, big rocks and faux beaver dams will be strategically placed to redirect flows into the new pools.

Mike Sloane, chief of fisheries for the Department of Game and Fish, said anglers should not be inconvenienced at the Kiddie Hole during the project except for some noise and truck traffic. Work in “The Braids,” however, will require the area to be closed to fishing for about 30 days in November and early December.

State funding will pay for most of the project, with some additional federal funds. The project was approved by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which controls the river operations; the State Parks Division, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

PUBLIC MEETINGS WILL ADDRESS PIKE IN EAGLE NEST LAKE

EAGLE NEST – The Department of Game and Fish will conduct meetings this month to inform the public and gather input about a proposal to change fishing rules at Eagle Nest Lake to address a threat to the lake’s trout fishery by the illegal introduction of northern pike.

The pikes’ presence in the lake was discovered in November 2010 when a 13-year-old angler from Espanola reported catching one there. Since then, many more have been caught in the lake by anglers and Department staff. Some of the pike have grown to 30 inches or more, said Eric Frey, fisheries biologist for the Northeast Area.

Northern pike feed primarily on large quantities of fish such as rainbow trout fingerlings and kokanee salmon fry. The Department stocks about 600,000 fingerling rainbow trout and about 200,000 kokanee salmon fry in the lake annually to maintain the lake as one of the state’s top coldwater fisheries. Predatory northern pike present a significant threat to that fishery, Frey said.

To help manage the pike population in the lake, the Department is recommending changing the daily bag limit to allow unlimited take and possession of northern pike, and to require Eagle Nest Lake anglers to keep all northern pike they catch.

The meetings:

• Oct. 11, 5 to 6 p.m.: Eagle Nest Lake State Park visitors center, No. 42 Marina Way, Eagle Nest.
• Oct. 12, 5 to 6 p.m.: Department of Game and Fish Northeast Area office, 215 York Canyon Road, Raton.

More information about the proposal can be found on the Department website, www.wildlife.state.nm.us under “Proposals for Public Comment,” or by contacting Eric Frey at (575) 445-2311 or eric.frey@state.nm.us.