18 Summer 2016 Applegater
Restoration projects around
the Applegate Watershed
BY JAKOB SHOCKEY
While clean water and fish are
subjects people have fought and died
over, the slow process of doing work in
our valley to safeguard these treasures
is less dramatic. I’d like to update you
on what the Applegate Partnership and
Watershed Council (APWC) has been
doing over the past year. It’s good and
honest work, and there have been a lot
of people working alongside us.
Our Thompson Creek Habitat
Restoration Project has expanded
into a second phase. We are currently
working on nine properties, removing
blackberries and other invasive vegetation
from the riparian area and planting native
trees and shrubs with funding from the
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
(OWEB), Pacific Power’s Blue Sky Fund,
and the Middle Rogue Steelheaders.
We’ve worked with local crews from
Lomakatski Restoration Project for tree
planting and C&C Constructors for
blackberry removal.
On the first phase of this project,
cattle trampled a section of plantings.
Oregon Wildlife funded replacement
plantings, and volunteers from the
community, Southern Oregon Flyfishers,
and the Middle Rogue Steelheaders
helped put them in the ground this
spring. We also worked with the US
Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau
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For rates and other information,
contact:
Ron Turpen
541-601-1867
ron.turpen@gmail.com
Next deadline:
August 1
of Land Management (BLM) to install
root wads and logs into two areas that
had severe erosion.
On Butcherknife Creek, a tributary
of Slate Creek, we received a grant
from OWEB to design a replacement
crossing for a culvert that is rotting
apart and blocking fish migration. In
collaboration with Cascade Stream
Solutions, the BLM, and local residents,
we’ve submitted a grant application to
fund the installation of a bridge. We also
received funding from OWEB to work
with landowners on Forest Creek and
Little Applegate River to address fish
barriers. We are currently developing
projects for those sites.
On the Applegate River,
we received funding through Title II
(government funding for work on federal
lands) to start riparian restoration at
the BLM’s Provolt Seed Orchard. We
recently finished removing more than 12
acres of blackberries from that site, and
have applied for grant funds to expand
this riparian restoration work at Provolt,
Cantrall Buckley Park, and some private
property in the Upper Applegate area.
Near the mouth of Humbug Creek,
we worked with the USFS and Good
Earth Landscaping to remove a plug
of gravel and reed canary grass that
had accumulated under the Highway
238 bridge. In addition to reducing
the capacity under the bridge, that
accumulation caused the creek to go
subsurface there, stranding and killing
migrating fish. Students from Applegate
Elementary School and volunteers from
the Middle Rogue Steelheaders helped
replant the streambanks with native trees
and shrubs.
The Middle Rogue
Steelheaders, a local nonprofit
group that promotes sports fishing,
conservation, and angler education,
helped plant trees on Iron Creek, where
we worked with a landowner to install
large wood for off-channel fish habitat
and streambank stabilization.
Finally, on upper Powell
Creek, we worked collaboratively
with the BLM and Blue Ridge Timber
to yard in and place more than 120
logs in the creek for fish habitat. Over
time, these logs will help create better
fish habitat by slowing down the water
and improving fine spawning gravel
deposits, while also scouring pools on
the downstream side for juvenile fish to
spend their summer.
Throughout these projects, our goal
is to help restore and enhance a healthy
watershed function. We use varied tools
toward this goal, including riparian
restoration, fish passage projects, in-
stream habitat enhancement, and natural
resource education.
We a r e a s m a l l n o n p r o f i t
organization, and all of our work is
made possible through grants, private
donations, and volunteers. We would
especially like to thank the Middle Rogue
Steelheaders, particularly Keith Miller,
for their continued volunteer efforts and
funding support.
If you are interested in
getting involved, go to our website
at www.apwc.info, Facebook page, or
Instagram to get more information on
events, volunteer efforts, donating, or
developing projects together.
Or, if you just want to watch a
movie together, join us for our annual
summer film at 6:30 pm on Wednesday,
August 10, at Red Lily Vineyards, 11777
Highway 238, Jacksonville.
Jakob Shockey
Restoration Program Manager
Applegate Partnership and
Watershed Council
541-890-9989
riparianprogram@apwc.info