This spring, I had the great fortune to watch native summer steelhead spawning on a gravel bar in Trout Creek, a tributary of the Deschutes River. The scene was at Trout Creek Ranch, a 3,000-acre property purchased by Portland General Electric in 1999 for fish and wildlife habitat mitigation.

 

Following the big flood of 1964, the stream had been channeled and lined with gravel levees. Four decades later, it still looked like a giant canal. Spring floods scoured the vegetation and washed away gravel needed by steelhead for spawning. In summer, shallow water spread across the channel; water temperatures soared to lethal levels. Most years, the channel dried up entirely. Not good for fish!

 

In 2008, a 1.2 mile-stretch of Trout Creek was rehabilitated to restore a natural channel. Heavy equipment removed the levees and carved out a new channel that meanders back and forth across the floodplain. Pools and riffles provide habitat for steelhead trout and other aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. More than 14,000 native trees and sedges were planted to stabilize the stream banks and provide shade to cool the water, along with native bunchgrass and forbs.

 

In time, the channel will narrow and become more shaded. Spring floods will spread out across the floodplain, depositing fine sediments to improve fertility. The flood water will return to the channel as cool seepage later in the summer. The floods will scour out deep pools to provide fish rearing habitat and maintain gravel bars for spawning.

 

The Trout Creek project is part of the environmental commitments made by PGE and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to renew the federal license to operate the Pelton Round Butte Hydo Project. Another 2.2 miles of Trout Creek that had not been channeled is being restored by natural recovery. Upland areas are actively managed to restore habitat for wildlife.

 

The Trout Creek Ranch is open to the public on a limited basis (primarily non-motorized use). Camping facilities are available for volunteers and educational groups.

 

    

 

Bob Spateholts, PGE Aquatic Habitat Team Leader

This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Deschutes River & tributaries, Fish, Habitat restoration, Portland General Electric. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.