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Levees breached to help fish
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H&N photo by
Andrew Mariman Warren Olson and Art Alaniz, with Knife River, oversee the breaching of a levee along the Williamson River on Tuesday. |
Project will re-establish wetlands on the Williamson River Delta Preserve
By STEVE KADEL
H&N Staff Writer
An excavator
bit huge chunks of earth
from a levee Tuesday,
allowing Williamson River
water to begin flooding land
on the Williamson River
Delta Preserve.
It was one of six spots during the day where heavy equipment breached levees on the delta’s southern Goose Bay portion. It will allow re-establishment of about 2,200 acres of wetlands in the Goose Bay area next spring when Upper Klamath Lake is full.
The goal is to improve habitat for endangered Lost River and short-nose suckers, said Mark Stern, Klamath Basin conservation director for The Nature Conservancy, which owns the property and is leading restoration efforts.
The nonprofit group took an even bigger step last fall when it used 100 tons of explosives to breach levees at four sites, flooding about four square miles on the former Tulana Farms portion of the delta. Nature Conservancy officials say that work has brought benefits in a short time.
“We’ve already seen larval fish using the river delta,” said Heather Hendrixson, The Nature Conservancy’s Williamson River Delta Preserve director.
It was one of six spots during the day where heavy equipment breached levees on the delta’s southern Goose Bay portion. It will allow re-establishment of about 2,200 acres of wetlands in the Goose Bay area next spring when Upper Klamath Lake is full.
The goal is to improve habitat for endangered Lost River and short-nose suckers, said Mark Stern, Klamath Basin conservation director for The Nature Conservancy, which owns the property and is leading restoration efforts.
The nonprofit group took an even bigger step last fall when it used 100 tons of explosives to breach levees at four sites, flooding about four square miles on the former Tulana Farms portion of the delta. Nature Conservancy officials say that work has brought benefits in a short time.
“We’ve already seen larval fish using the river delta,” said Heather Hendrixson, The Nature Conservancy’s Williamson River Delta Preserve director.
The Nature Conservancy paid $5 million in 1996 and $2.5 million in 1999 to acquire the properties, with the help of federal, state and private partners. The restoration construction work will cost another $8.5 million, resulting in 5,800 acres of re-established wetlands.
Besides providing better rearing habitat for larval suckers, including more food and protection against predators, re-establishing the wetlands is expected to improve water quality in Upper Klamath Lake.
“It’s been a project long in coming,” Stern said. “It’s nice to see it come to fruition. Wetlands are really amazing as far as how quickly they come back, although the real benefits will come in two to five years as the vegetation and habitat begins to develop.”
The delta was historically a vast floodplain and lake-fringe habitat, according to The Nature Conservancy. In the 1940s, a system of levees was built and the water was drained to allow crops to be planted.
At that time, Stern noted, the need for growing food was a priority. But lately, the potential benefits of wetlands have taken precedence.
Tuesday’s efforts by the contractor, Knife River, opened three breaches along the Williamson River and three along Upper Klamath Lake. A mile and a half of levee was taken out.
The Goose Bay restoration removed 800,000 cubic yards of dirt, Stern said, with 2.1 million cubic yards of earth moved in the entire project.
“We have also moved willows, tules, and cattails to areas along the river and the interior with the intent to jump-start re-colonization of native vegetation,” Stern said.
He said three and a half miles of riparian zone has been created along the river.
H&N photo by Andrew
Mariman
Water begins to flow after Roy Kibbe, with Knife River, removes an earthen
Water begins to flow after Roy Kibbe, with Knife River, removes an earthen
plug from
a levee at Modoc Point.
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