NEWS
BlueMountainEagle.com
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Historic dredging site reclaimed for fish
A3
Projects benefit
steelhead, trout
and salmon
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Two fish habitat improve-
ment projects were com-
pleted this year in tributar-
ies of the Middle Fork of the
John Day River just down-
stream from the historic min-
ing town of Galena.
Both creeks are designated
critical habitat for threatened
Mid-Columbia steelhead and
bull trout and provide import-
ant cold-water rearing habitat
for spring chinook salmon,
according to Forest Service
hydrologist Bob Hassmiller
and Forest Service fisheries
biologist Dan Armichardy.
About 4 miles of Bear
Creek was dredge-mined in
the 1930s after being hydrau-
lically mined by Chinese
prior to that. Mine tailings
created several ponds rather
than a continuous surface
water flow from the creek to
the river. Other past impacts
included overgrazing and
logging.
The Bear Creek Proj-
ect called for reconnecting
the creek and river. Adding
woody debris to the creek
would improve riffle and pool
formation, restore floodplain
connectivity and create rear-
ing and spawning sites. The
project also called for remov-
ing road berms and reduc-
ing elevated summer stream
temperatures.
The Blue Mountain
Ranger District completed
2.4 river miles of instream
enhancement this fall. Two
excavators placed 720 pieces
of large wood into the chan-
nel and floodplain and recon-
structed 240 feet of valley
terrain. Crews planted 3,000
cottonwoods and 6,500 wil-
lows and thinned 200 acres of
overstocked dry forest stands.
The Bear Creek project
cost $167,186, with 42 per-
cent provided by the For-
est Service and 58 percent
by the North Fork John Day
Watershed Council and Ore-
gon Watershed Enhancement
Board. The Forest Service’s
Collaborative Forest Land-
scape Restoration Program
assisted with staff time.
Further downstream and
on the opposite side of the
river, Big Creek was worked
by Chinese miners in the 19th
century and by Camm-Texx
in the 1980s. This activity left
a levee that constrained nat-
ural movement of the creek.
Fish habitat was further
impaired by large cobble-
stones left along the stream
bed and four large ponds that
formed in the floodplain.
The Big Creek Mine Rec-
lamation Project called for
improving streamflow and
water retention, and building
up floodplains by sediment
retention and revegetation.
Crews tipped trees in 11
acres of overstocked for-
est, added 150 large trees to
the floodplain and side chan-
nels, reconnected 6.5 acres
Contributed photo/U.S. Forest Service
Greg and Kyle Ontko use excavators to remove historic mine tailings to reconnect Bear Creek to the Middle Fork of the John Day River near
Galena as part of a 2018 fish habitat restoration project.
Contributed photo
U.S. Forest Service
Contributed photo/U.S. Forest Service
A diagram of the 2018 Big Creek fish habitat restoration project on the Middle Fork of the John Day River near
Galena showing how cut and fill engineering changed the streamflow pattern.
of floodplain by removing
1,500 feet of man-made levee
and regrading 6,300 cubic
yards of floodplain material,
and created 0.6 miles of side
channel.
Oregon Natural Des-
ert Association work parties
planted 2,600 willows as well
as dogwood, tufted hairgrass
and sedge. The plants were
harvested earlier from around
the ponds and cached in a
creek by the Oregon Youth
Conservation Corps.
The Big Creek Mine
Reclamation Project cost
$286,769, with 24 percent
provided by the Forest Ser-
vice and 76 percent provided
by the Grant Soil & Water
Conservation District and
Oregon Watershed Enhance-
ment Board. The district
also helped design the proj-
ect and provided needed
aquatics engineering.
95984
Public Notice
Request for Proposals
Community Connection of Northeast
Oregon, Inc. is accepting proposals
for an agency-wide single audit con-
ducted in accordance with Code of
Federal Regulations Title 2 Part 200
for the period ending June 30, 2019.
Licensed CPAs may request a copy
of the RFP from Diana
at 541-963-3186 x1004.
Deadline for submission is January 15, 2019.
Kyl Ontko shuts down
his excavator at the 2018
Bear Creek fish habitat
restoration project to
allow the engine to
cool off in 107-degree
temperature.
Contributed photo
U.S. Forest Service
Big Creek
after the 2018
fish habitat
restoration
project on the
Middle Fork of
the John Day
River near Galena
was completed.