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Restoring the Wood River

H&N photos by Andrew Mariman
Bureau of Land Management hydrologist Andy Hamilton, left, and BLM River Ranger Grant Weidenbach discuss restoration that began in 1997 along the Wood River Thursday.

Projects are helping to improve habitat

BY JILL AHO
H&N Staff Writer

June 27, 2009
In an effort to undo past changes to the Wood River delta, the Bureau of Land Management plans to restore a section of the river and re-create a channel where the river empties into Agency Lake.

But the changes brought about by agricultural use were so broad, BLM officials say they don’t expect to restore the mouth of river to its original state.

“Since there’s been so much modification of the landscape, we don’t have a goal of restoring what it was like before,” said Andy Hamilton, a hydrologist with the BLM.

Sometime in the 1960s and early 1970s, the delta and surrounding wetland were drained for farming. The BLM acquired about 3,000 acres of wetlands north of Agency Lake in 1994.

The agency began studying environmental impacts in the mid-1990s, Hamilton said.

Restoration work began in 1997, when the BLM began narrowing an existing levee built to separate Wood River from neighboring wetlands. It used earth from the levee to fill in the river’s widened banks.
Andy Hamilton, a hydrologist with the BLM, approaches a pump station installed in 1996 on the Wood River which is used to regulate water levels in the river and helps with restoration.  An older pump was used to clear water from agriculture land at the Wood River delta.
The next phase of restoration is expected to cost about $100,000. So far the BLM has spent about $5.2 million on land acquisition and restoration activities on the wetland and a 2-1/2-mile section of the river. Much of the money has been donated labor, cash and equipment from state, federal and nongovernmental partners.

“It was the building of the levees that changed the course of the river and the way the river flowed through the delta,” Hamilton said.

Earth used to build the levee that separates the Wood River wetland from the river had the effect of making a straighter, wider river channel.

The river can’t transport sediment as effectively, Hamilton said, and that results in an ever shallower river bottom that is prohibitive to both fish and boats.

Habitat

A spawning ground for suckers, and a habitat for Oregon spotted frogs and many bird species, the area is of particular interest to the BLM, Hamilton said. Larval suckers use emergent wetlands areas as a rearing habitat, and previous restoration work helped to create more areas suitable to endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers.

“This is providing additional habitat,” Hamilton said. “By rebuilding the floodplain, the suckers are able to utilize that emergent marsh habitat.”

The river also is home to redband trout, a native fish.
Anglers fish the Wood River near Chiloquin Thursday.  Restoration in the area will allow for easier access to Wood River from Agency Lake by re-creating the channel where the two meet.
Improved access

The plan calls for improving access to the river and a picnic area at the Wood River bridge, which has signs of erosion from foot and boat traffic. The BLM initially proposed a floating dock, but since public comment gave little indication that it was highly desired, the agency is considering putting in a rock face at the landing site instead.

Where the Wood River flows into Agency Lake, a closed-off channel will be restored, Hamilton said. The desired effect would be to give river sediment a deeper place to flow into the lake, as well as increased boat access from the lake to the river.

Just upstream of the Wood River bridge, the impact of restoration activities 10 years ago is apparent. Wetland vegetation has returned to the floodplain and wildlife is abundant.

“When we did this work, it was really pronounced,” Weidenbach said. “But the response of the vegetation … it’s growing as designed.”

Work schedule

Work is expected to begin in late August after fish leave the river to return to Agency and Upper Klamath lakes, depending on funding and permitting, Hamilton said. The restoration work will mostly be completed this year. Rocks installed for erosion protection will be used until natural vegetation takes over.

“We’ll have to come back in a couple of years and remove those structures,” Hamilton said.
 
 

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