Williamson restoration project wins 2007 Wetland Award

Project aimed at improving habitat for endangered fish

By STEVE KADEL

H&N Staff Writer

May 20, 2008

   A co perative effort to improve habitat for endangered fish in the Williamson River Delta has won an award from the State Land Board. 

   The Williamson River Delta Restoration Project won the 2007 Wetland Award as an example of responsible stewardship of Oregon ’s natural resources. 

   ‘Direct benefits’ 

   State Treasurer Randall Edwards, a member of the land board, called the conservation project “a complex, multi-agency effort that’s resulting in direct benefits for endangered fish in the region.” 

   In addition, the American Fisheries Society Western Division gave The Nature Conservancy its annual award for best riparian project for work on the delta. 

   T he project involved removing levees on the 3,500-acre Tulana Farm portion of the 7,000-acre site. 

   The goal was to restore the hydrological connection in the delta between the wetlands, Upper Klamath Lake and Williamson River to increase habitat for endangered larval and juvenile shortnose suckers and Lost River suckers. 

   Another goal was to boost delivery of nutrients to the lake. 

   Removing the levees could not be done by excavation equipment because the levees’ soft, flour-like soil composition would not support the large machines. 

   Levees breached 

   Instead, the levees were breached on Oct. 30, 2007 , by 200,000 pounds of explosives placed in about 3,000 holes. 

   Mark Stern of The Nature Conservancy said the restoration effort appears to have worked as intended. 

   “It’s really looking like the explosion and levee breaching set the stage for nature to do the rest of the work,” he sa id. “This spring the wetlands is as we hoped it would look.” 

   Monitoring fish 

   The Nature Conservancy is starting to monitor fish in the Tulana portion of the wetlands, a process that will take three to five years to complete. The group also will monitor water quality. 

   “We’ve set up 20-some different sampling points in the delta,” Stern said. “We set them up based on how we expect the plant species to come back.” 

   Work to expand the wetlands w ill continue this summer along the Goose Bay portion of the delta. A riparian bench about 50 to 80 feet wide will be created, with breaching set for October by traditional equipment.

Side Bar

Working toward a common goal

   Money to complete last year’s restoration came from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (through Ducks Unlimited), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and PacifiCorp. 

   Technical partners for the restoration included David Evans and Associates, Graham Matthews and Associates, LTM Inc., the Klamath Tribes, Allied Cultural Resources, Oregon State University , ZCS Engineering and the U.S. Geologic Survey.

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