The Oregon Department of Forestry announced the completion of a stream enhancement project in the upper reaches of Gales Creek in the Tillamook State Forest.
“The goal of this project is to restore natural stream processes and instream complexity by placing large wood into the stream channel to improve physical habitat, fish production and water quality,” said Erik Moberly, Aquatic and Riparian Specialist for ODF’s State Forests Division. “The trees, some with attached root wads, that were placed will help influence the formation of pools, spawning gravels and provide cover for aquatic dependent species.”
Gales Creek, a Tualatin River tributary, is home to several fish species, including Endangered Species Act-listed Coho Salmon and Winter Steelhead. Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, and other fish species call Gales Creek home.
The Oregon Department of Forestry said their agency saved costs by choosing logs for the project from a nearby timber sale and staging them in the area.
"An excavator was used to move the trees from the log decks and place into the stream," the department said.
“Nine individual placement sites were completed on Gales Creek and a tributary while six placement sites were completed on the North Fork Gales Creek in two days,” said Moberly. “Thirty trees with attached root wads and 54 trees without root wads were used for the entire project.”
As a result of the project, about 1,500 feet of Gales Creek was treated and 1,400 feet on North Fork Gales Creek was treated.
The department said the total cost was around $20,000 and some staff time for planning and implementing the project.
The total project costs were around $20,000 excluding some staff time to plan and implement the project.
The department said the project was the latest in a string of enhancements on Gales Creek.
"In 2009, ODF partnered with Tualatin River Watershed Council (TWRC), Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and Stimson Lumber Company to do work on the North Fork of Gales Creek. This was partially funded through an Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) grant obtained by the watershed council; the logs were provided by Stimson and ODF. More than 100 logs were placed within a 1.2-mile stretch of the stream channel and surrounding floodplain," the department said.
"In 2011, ODF again partnered with the TWRC and ODFW to enhance about a half mile of Gales Creek located Northwest of the Gales Creek Campground. This work was done with an OWEB grant and placed about 70 logs in the stream channel and floodplain. The work was completed by the Bottom Round Timber Sale," the department said.
“State Forest lands are actively managed under forest management plans to provide economic, environmental, and social benefits to Oregonians,” said Moberly. “Projects like these positively impact all three of those goals.”
