community
UNWC Welcomes Back Salmon
$300,000.

“The reason these types of proj-
ects are important to us is because these
side tributaries to the Nehalem are good
winter refuge areas for salmon escaping
high river flows,” said Peyton. “They
are also good summer refuge because
that part of the Nehalem gets hot and
the side streams are cooler.” In addi-
tion to the Coho Salmon that the UNWC
is working to protect, the streams are
also home to Summer Chinook, Winter
Steel-head and Cutthroat Trout, as well
as Pacific and Brook Lamprey, Sculpin,
Pacific Giant Salamanders, frogs, craw-
dads and a host of other aquatic life.

The project required a forty-
eight hour detour while the culverts were
pulled and the bridges installed, and the
total project lasted almost one month.
The bridges that replaced the culverts
were precast, modular, steel structures
and were both sixty feet in length.

In order to do this type of proj-
ect, the local aquatic life, whose habitat
is temporarily disturbed, need to be res-
cued and protected. Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife and a volunteer
from the Nehalem Valley Izaak Walton
League helped with those efforts. Pools
around the restoration project are drained
using pumps and the local inhabitants are
caught in nets and moved. “We dipped
the pools for a couple hours and pulled
all kinds of creatures out of there,” said
Peyton. “There was an amazing number
of creatures, over 200, in just one small
pool.”

One of the extra advantages that
came from this project was that local
logging companies were hired as con-
tractors to assist with the project, put-
ting them to work during a slow time.
Using logging companies to do salmon
restoration projects might seem like a
contradiction, but it actually turns out
to be a good fit. “They
do a really good job be-
cause they are used to
building roads and in-
stalling bridges on log-
ging roads,” said Pey-
ton. “Over the years,
through our projects
and with the help of the
ODFW, we’ve trained a
number of logging con-
tractors to do salmon restoration work.
We have a whole list of them now that
are qualified to do it. And these guys did
a great job on this project.”

The UNWC hopes to return to
the area to do additional riparian res-
toration as part of this project,
including, hopefully, establish-
ing an agreement with one local
landowner whose property abuts
one of the streams where it flows
into the Nehalem. “We’re going to
do an under-planting of trees and
plant some
cottonwoods
around wet-
Everyone in
lands on the Clatsop and
property,”
said Columbia
Counties
Peyton.
Can

Establish-
Join!
ing
agreements
with local land-
owners to allow
enhancement proj-
ects to take place
on their properties
has been a big part
of the UNWC’s
work over the
years. The Twee-
dle Project provid-
november
2009
27
continued from front page
ed an opportunity to establish a
relationship with a new landown-
er that could lead to more future
in-depth restoration. “We hope to
be able to go out with some tech-
nical advisors and do a walk-over
with the landowner and discuss
possible projects,” said Peyton.
“He seems to be very interested
in restoring and conserving the ri-
parian and wetland aspects of his
property.”

This Tweedle Project
is just one good example of the
kinds of proj-
ects and work the
UNWC continues to im-
plement throughout the
Upper Nehalem Valley.
They continue to bring
together unique partner-
ships that enhance and
restore our local water-
shed, provide jobs for
local employers, develop
relationships with local landowners and
successfully promote healthy steward-
ship of local rivers and streams.
The Upper Nehalem Watershed Council is
always open to new members and provides
many fulfilling volunteer opportunities.
UNWC is currently seeking a Treasurer, so
if you have accounting skills and have a
few hours every month to donate to a good
cause, please contact the UNWC office at
503-429-0869 or email info@nehalem.org.
Project tours are available and new restora-
tion co-operators are always welcome.
Owned and Operated by
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