|
|
| |
|
|
| State Land Board gives 2004 Stream Award to Longley Meadows Project |
|
| 04/12/2005 |
Owners of Alta Cunha and Moss Creek ranches recognized
The State Land Board today presented the 2004 Stream Project Award to owners of Alta Cunha and Moss Creek ranches west of LaGrande for restoration of the Longley Meadows during the board’s regular meeting in Salem.
Ranch owners Carla Cunha, Shauna Mosgrove and Kelly Stinnett and numerous partners launched the project with planning in 1999 and construction from 2002 to 2004. The purpose of the project was to restore in-stream, streambank and wetland habitat along seven miles of three creeks and the main stem of the Grande Ronde River west of LaGrande. The project included building seven miles of fence to keep livestock away from the creeks and river, planting 40,000 shrubs and trees and developing nine off-channel water sources for livestock.
The project improved habitat along a one-mile segment of the Grande Ronde River. Partners used state-of-the-art stream restoration techniques to restore one mile of the Bear Creek channel to its historical configurations through Longley Meadow. The new, meandering channel doubled instream habitat and created slow water flow over gravely streambeds. Crews also placed whole trees with rootwads and woody debris into one mile of Jordan Creek.
To preserve the investment in the project, the ranch owners enrolled 445 acres of land adjacent to the creeks and river in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and the Bonneville Power Administration’s Fish Habitat Program. The agreements establish a 15-year streambank conservation easement.
Fourth generation ranch owner Mosgrove said that she, her mother Carla, and ranch co-owner Kelly started the project “with the traditional cattle operation perspective—help the stream, but keep the meadow for grazing.” Project planners soon realized this wasn’t possible. They toured similar projects. “I had grown up seeing streambank areas looking like putting greens and thought that was normal,” she said. “I soon learned that restoration can bring huge benefits to a stream,” she said.
Through numerous “stream summits” at the ranch with eight or nine project partners attending, the group found solutions that allowed stream restoration as well as grazing. Staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Service helped develop water sources other than the creeks and assisted with pasture rotation plans to offset the grazing lost from fencing off the ranch’s best grazing in the meadow.
“A major surprise came when we found out that existing springs wouldn’t be an adequate water source for the livestock,” Mosgrove said. The solution: two wells, one of which is powered by a solar pump “that is working wonderfully,” she added.
Five years after the start of planning, Mosgrove said it is satisfying to know that “you can do good things for the resource while keeping a viable cattle operation.” Mosgrove said the highlight of the project occurred last spring when one of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists came to tell her that steelhead were building spawning nests in the restored creek bed.
Project partners included several local, state and federal agencies. The total cost of the project was $265,000 of which BPA’s Fish Habitat Program contributed $145,000 for fencing and construction of the new channel. Other financial contributors included the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Transportation, Grande Ronde Model Watershed Program and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, which managed the project.
Principal project coordinators working with the ranch owners included: Allen Childs, project biologist of the CTUIR, who provided overall project guidance; Alan Bahn, rangeland management specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, who pulled together resources from the BPA, NRCS and CREP; Vance McGown, fisheries habitat biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, who prepared project designs and jointly administered project construction and inspection; and Jeff Oveson and staff of the Grande Ronde Model Watershed Program for technical support and assistance with securing grant funds for project implementation. Oveson submitted the award nomination for the Land Board award.
In addition, the Oregon Department of Forestry helped obtain logging permits for harvesting whole trees and pulling rootwads from private timber stands. They also inspected plantings in the CREP area. The Oregon Department of Transportation selected the Longley Meadow Project to offset loss of wetlands at the nearby Lower Perry Bridge. ODOT provided $12,000 to develop a small wetland and $5,400 for planting trees and shrubs along the Grande Ronde.
“The partners worked throughout as a team, bringing technical knowledge, practical experience from similar projects and sources of funding,” Mosgrove said. Individual landowners would not be able to tackle such projects without the good interagency cooperation shown from beginning to end, she noted.
The State Land Board Awards were created in 2003 to promote and recognize responsible, sustainable stewardship of natural resources. To be eligible, stream and wetland projects must have received a Removal-Fill Permit from the Oregon Department of State Lands and must meet or exceed all permit conditions. Committees of DSL staff members, Land Board assistants and representatives of natural resources organizations select winners. Nominations are due each January for the preceding year.
The State Land Board consists of Governor Theodore Kulongoski, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and Treasurer Randall Edwards.
05-27
For more information:
Monte Turner
503.378.3805 x247
|
|
|
|
