Reversing past changes to the watershed       

   Landowners changed the delta in the 1950s by building levees to create farmland. The Nature Conservancy bought what was then Tulana Farms in 1996 and neighboring Goose Bay in 1999. No more plans to alter the landscape are in the works, and officials say nature will take over from here.

Sprague River banks stabilized     

   The Fremont-Winema National Forests is proposing restoration work to the north fork of the Sprague River and Cold Creek in Lake County.

   The project would affect the 15 miles of the Sprague River that has been designated as a Wild and Scenic River. The proposal states 4,690 feet of actively eroding streambank are the result of historic grazing practices, road construction, fire regime and timber harvest. Three culverts would be replaced under the proposal because they are undersized and blocked, preventing water flow and fish passage.

   The project proposes to restore riparian habitat, reconnect floodplains, create aquatic habitat complexity and increase water storage within high elevation meadow reaches. The Silver Lake and Paisley ranger districts are currently accepting comments on the proposed restoration.

Watershed projects funded     

   During the past five years, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board has funded 59 projects in the Klamath Basin, at a cost of more than $4 million. Of those, 48 were restoration projects, six were education and outreach projects, three were project design and two studied the effectiveness of restoration projects.

   Many of the restoration projects were paid for with small grants designed to help landowners, ranchers and farmers convert irrigation ditches to pipes or fence riparian areas to keep livestock out of streams, said Carolyn Devine, communications coordinator for Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. Larger projects, done by the Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust, Klamath Watershed Partnership and The Nature Conservancy opened streams for fish habitat, installed fencing to protect riparian habitat, planted native trees and shrubs along stream banks, and converted ditch irrigation to pipes to reduce water losses.  

   In its 2009 funding cycle, the enhancement board provided $37,684 to the Klamath Watershed Partnership to replace a culvert on Snake Creek, a tributary of the Sycan River. Additionally, a water wheel will provide water to an offstream trough for livestock in the area, deterring the animals from the banks of the creek.

   It also provided $16,500 to the Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust to add about 15 wooden structures to provide habitat diversity and spawning gravel to Crooked Creek, a tributary of the Wood River, which feeds into Upper Klamath Lake. The project will plant native trees and shrubs and install a solar pump to bring water to livestock off-stream.