Applegater Winter 2019
For the fish and people:
APWC collaborates for
ecosystem resiliency
BY BARBARA SUMMERHAWK
Applegate Partnership
and Watershed Council
(APWC) has received over
$1.5 million in grants
to partner with local
landowners, farmers, timber
companies, vineyards, water
users, agencies, and other
nonprofits to make life easier
for fish in the Applegate and
Evans Creek watersheds.
Various projects across
the valley and beyond will
involve working with these
partners to remove fish-
passage barriers, improve
stream health, and improve
irrigation systems. Let’s take
a quick look at some of these
projects planned for the
2020-2022 cycle.
On Williams Creek, the Lower
Bridgepoint Dam blocks juvenile fish
access to core cold water upstream during
the summer months. The dam is listed
by the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife (ODFW) as a statewide fish
priority, so the engineered designs for
dam removal will eliminate one of the
many speed bumps fish encounter while
accessing miles of high-quality fish habitat
for Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead,
cutthroat trout, and Pacific lamprey.
The project will also improve the irrigation
system and stabilize the stream banks.
Partners for this project include local
irrigators, Blue Fox and Whistling Duck
farms, local landowners, the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM), Rogue
Basin Partnership, and Oregon Water
Resource Department.
Downstream, Murphy Dam, on the
Applegate River, has received funding to
(1) secure survey and engineering services
to improve irrigation efficiency throughout
the ditch system and (2) provide designs to
improve the diversion and fish passage at
the dam. In partnership with the Murphy
Ditch Association and Two Rivers Soil and
Water Conservation District, the project
will help 38 water users attain these goals.
Outside the Applegate Watershed,
but within the APWC’s mission, flows
Evans Creek. This stream flows northeast
to the town of Rogue River in Jackson
County. The APWC has two fish-
passage projects and a large instream
habitat improvement project in this
watershed. Through partnerships with
local landowners, timber companies,
and agencies, APWC is working to
design fish passage improvement on
Sykes Creek; implement fish passage
improvements at Wimer Siphon, an
abandoned concrete siphon on Evans
Creek; and improve stream complexity
and instream fish habitat on the West Fork
of Evans Creek through the placement
of large woody debris in the creek. Evans
Creek is designated as a “core area” and
one of the highest priority restoration
areas under the Final Recovery Plan
Upper Powell Creek juvenile salmon.
Photo: Jason Jaacks 2017.
for the Southern Oregon Northern
California Coho (SONCC) Salmon. All of
this work will mean the survival of more
juvenile fish and aid in the recovery of
Endangered Species Act-listed and state-
listed species.
Back in the Applegate near Provolt, the
lower six miles of Williams Creek struggles
with barriers to fish, water quantity, and
temperature issues, all problems that reduce
water quality and stream complexity. This
part of Williams Creek flows from the
Williams Creek Preserve, owned by the
Southern Oregon Land Conservancy,
down to the confluence with the Applegate
River. Janelle Dunlevy, executive director
of APWC, says, “This project gives us an
opportunity to partner with the Williams
Creek Watershed Council and develop
opportunities with the landowners that
will benefit both the landowner and the
creek. We look forward to implementing
this stakeholder grant and working with
the landowners in this area.”
With a new head gate, ditch piping, and
fish screen on the Little Applegate River, the
Upper Philips Fish Passage and Irrigation
project will improve access to miles of
essential cold-water habitat for steelhead,
Pacific lamprey, and cutthroat trout, while
improving irrigation water delivery to local
landowners and improving water quality.
The many partners on this project include
landowners, water users, Jackson Soil and
Water Conservation District, Middle
Rogue Steelheaders, and ODFW.
The APWC continues its mission to
restore and maintain the ecological health
of the watershed for the fish and for the
people of the Applegate. We will continue
our lecture series with a winter lecture on
January 16 on well and septic health. For
more information, please see our ad in this
issue of the Applegater and our Facebook
page. If you have any questions about these
or other activities of the APWC, feel free
to contact the organization at contact@
apwc.info or 541-899-9982.
Barbara Summerhawk
APWC Board Member
contact@apwc.info
21
Establishing an Education and
Outreach Program in the Applegate
BY JENNIFER PAYNE
The Applegate Partnership
and Watershed Council (APWC)
is developing an Education and
Outreach Program (EOP) that
provides hands-on learning
opportunities for youth and the
public. The program includes
watershed education for students,
opportunities for interns, and
public outreach at various events.
The goals are to build support for
and knowledge of the Applegate
and Rogue River watersheds and to
offer opportunities for people to make
a positive difference for local wildlife
and the environment.
Take it outside! The APWC is
ramping up partnerships with local
schools to get students outside and to
provide them with outdoor education
experiences they won’t soon forget.
Students first learn about their watershed
Top photo: Salmon enthusiasts Taylor Cooper
in the classroom and then visit local
and
Owen Stabach create salmon hats at the
riverfront parks, Cantrall Buckley Park
Bear
Creek
Fall Festival in Medford in October.
and Provolt Seed Orchard Recreation
Bottom
photo:
Whitney Anderson, Southern
Area, for a field trip to learn about river
Oregon
University
intern,
models a salmon hat
systems, the life cycle of salmon, the
at the APWC outreach booth at the festival.
health of wildlife habitats, and ways to
make a positive impact. Wading knee-
deep in the river and hunting for insects plantings. In addition, APWC provides
and signs of healthy salmon habitat keep lectures throughout the year. Don’t
students excited about learning. The miss the Well Water Warriors on January
word “watershed” comes alive when kids 16. Bring your well water sample
experience it first-hand. Students feel for testing and find out what’s in your
connected to their local rivers and forests water! Visit the APWC website for time
by helping to plant native plants, remove and location details, or look for our ad in
invasive plants, collect data on the health this Applegater.
of the ecosystem, and build and place bird
More opportunities for collaboration.
and bat boxes in the Applegate Valley.
Through the EOP, APWC is partnering
Investing in the community. For with ROCS, Well Water Warriors, Salmon
educational opportunities, APWC Watch Program, SOU EE Program, Oregon
utilizes local professional expertise and Department of Fish and Wildlife, Jackson
brings in resources through student County, Bureau of Land Management,
internships. For example, APWC has been SOLVE, and Rooted in Hope.
working with local woodworker Tommy
Funding for the pilot program this first
Maddox, owner of 4M Timber, to plan year is made possible by:
the construction of bird- and bat-box kits • A small Momentum Grant from A
for student service projects with Ruch
Greater Applegate (AGA)
Outdoor Community School (ROCS). • Private fundraising efforts of APWC
Through work with the Southern Oregon
board member Cathy Rodgers
University Environmental Education • Volunteer hours contributed by
Program (SOU EE Program), APWC is
Janis Mohr-Tipton and Jennifer and
providing internship positions in the field,
Gregg Payne
like habitat restoration and monitoring, • APWC capacity funds for executive
as well as positions in outdoor education
director Janelle Dunlevy’s hours
and public outreach. Currently, SOU
I am excited to develop the Education
EE intern Whitney Anderson is working and Outreach Program because, with full
with the eighth-grade class at ROCS in funding, we can provide services for all
local plant-identification activities and Applegate Valley schools, bring students
geocaching for upcoming hikes. She is also from other areas to experience our valley’s
helping with public outreach. These are natural beauty, provide a presence for
examples of win-win relationships.
the Applegate Valley at regional public
Reach out! Playing “Match the Scat” events, and create a pipeline for more
games, planting tree shoots, and designing resources for the local environment. I am
salmon hats are surefire ways to capture currently pursuing funding from both
the public’s attention. Through these kinds private and public sources. Please visit
of engaging activities, APWC is providing applegatepartnershipwc.org for more
education about how to protect wildlife information and/or to donate to this new
habitat, as well as promoting the Applegate program or contact me at outreach@
Valley in general. Recently, APWC apwc.info.
had a booth at the Bear Creek Fall Festival
Jennifer Payne
in Medford. People left with smiles
APWC Education & Outreach
on their faces, wearing silly salmon
Program Director
hats and carrying their willow tree
outreach@apwc.info