Page 12
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Mill Creek: stream will wind into side channels
(Continued from page 1)
While the ponds were in
active use, Mill Creek existed
only as an overflow channel
skirting the ponds on the
north. A deep gully now marks
the path of that channel.
The ponds were used to
store logs until the early
1970s. In 1980, high runoff
breached the berms and re-
claimed part of the old chan-
nel. However, the sudden re-
lease of the large volume of
water resulted in significant
scouring and erosion of the
channel.
As of this date the stretch
of the creek once occupied
by the log ponds has not re-
covered, and now functions
as a narrow, high-velocity
channel with little or no ripar-
ian vegetation and a non-ex-
istent floodplain.
As is often the case with
dam builders, the conse-
quences of their activities on
salmon and steelhead was not
a major concern at the time,
and would not be known un-
til several decades later. Basi-
cally, the thought process at
the time was this: The mills
needed log storage, ponds
were a convenient way to
store logs in a way that kept
them fresh, ponds need a
steady supply of water, and
the whole setup needed to be
close to existing logging roads.
Mill Creek fit the bill and
Potter’s Ponds were created.
Toward restoration
Such activities would be
prohibited in today’s regula-
tory environment. The tribes’
Integrated Resource Manage-
ment Plan (IRMP) has sev-
eral provisions, including
buffer zones, limits on entry
and disturbance of creek
channels, and water quality
standards, to name a few.
In fact, the work to be
undertaken in Mill Creek will
have a long list of conditions
to meet in terms of turbidity
Courtesy BNR.
View from above, Mill Creek restoration area.
and sedimentation, or the stir-
ring up and muddying of the
water. Monitoring equipment
downstream of the project
site will measure suspended
solids in the water and when
certain levels are reached
work will have to cease.
Scott Turo, habitat biolo-
gist with the tribe’s fisheries
department, will oversee
work on Mill Creek’s dam-
aged channel and banks be-
ginning in June.
“In the ten years I’ve been
here,” Turo said, “this is the
biggest project I’ve seen for
tribes, except for the new
school. I think it’s something
people can rally around.”
The project will restore sig-
nificant chinook habitat on
the reservation, and could
serve as the model for future
restoration work, such as on
Beaver Creek, he said.
The Shitike Creek im-
provement of 2009 is simi-
lar in some ways to the Mill
Creek project, but the im-
provements on Mill Creek will
be even larger, Turo added.
Channels and pools
With funding from the Pa-
cific Coastal Salmon Recov-
ery Fund, Bonneville Power
Administration, Portland Gen-
eral Electric, among others,
the Fisheries Habitat Program
developed a plan to revital-
ize roughly a mile of Mill
COCC youth camp next month
Registration is open for
the Central Oregon Commu-
nity College Youth Camp.
This is for kids ages 10-14
to explore things like aviation,
engineering, Kung Fu and all
sorts of areas.
They offer weeklong half-
day summer day camp pro-
grams beginning June 16.
For additional informa-
tion, visit the COCC website.
cocc.edu/youthcamp/
Creek from the upper end of
Potter’s Ponds to about a half-
mile downstream of the B-
100 Bridge.
Within that area, the
project objectives include
measures to reconnect the
floodplain, increase sinuosity,
enclose the riparian area with
fencing, eliminate livestock
presence, remove the lateral
berms (dams), enhance off
channel habitat through the
development of side chan-
nels, ponds and alcoves.
Reconnecting the flood-
plain means that the creek will
no longer be confined to a
deep, narrow channel. In-
stead, with re-grading of the
entire area between the outer
banks, the stream will wind
through a series of S-turns,
feeding off into side channels
and deep pools. Sinuosity is
the side-to-side wandering of
the stream within its flood-
plain. Sinuosity helps to cre-
ate side channels and pools
and is a feature of a healthy
stream system.
Riparian fencing is neces-
sary to protect the newly cre-
ated habitat from overgraz-
ing that would damage veg-
etation and stream banks.
In time, Mill Creek will
provide suitable habitat for a
variety of fish and wildlife
species. How long is anyone’s
guess, but the Mill Creek
Restoration Project will help
the natural process along and
reduce the recovery time, by
decades, perhaps centuries.
(This is the first of the three
part series on the Mill Creek
Project. Part Two will examine
the actual in-stream work. Part
Three will give a before and af-
ter look at the site).
May 28, 2014
Couples tourney at KNT
Kah-Nee-Ta Golf hosted the Teepee Chapman
Mother’s Day couples golf tournament earlier in May.
Here are the results of the two-day tourney:
First flight (0-19 handicap): first gross team: Chuck
and Jane Paulson, 148.
Second gross team: Steve and Kimberly Wood, 150.
First place net: Krystal Stoneking and Bill Beacher.
Second team net: Gary and Marcy Holt.
Second flight (20-36 handicaps): first place gross:
Shawn and Pam Aldritt.
Second place gross: Frank and Helen Francis.
First place net: Scott and Jennie Sandler.
Second place net: Ken and Joan Wellman.
The Warm Springs Community Center will be
on summer hours starting on Monday, June 2.
The center will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m..
Now Serving All the Reservation
Warm Springs
Seekseequa
4202
Holliday St.
Simnasho
Schoolie Flat
Call 541-
615-0555