| OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program |
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| Web Brief (May 07) |
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Trees are being re-used to create salmon habitat.
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Long-term thinking and cooperation
restores salmon habitat
Douglas firs removed to accommodate ODOT bridge replacements in Cottage Grove will enhance habitat in the Umpqua River basin
Where can birds and fish both feel at home? At different times, each makes a home among trees. Standing Douglas firs make great roosting and nesting habitat for a host of migratory birds. When age or strong winds topple the fir trees into a river, they form shelters in the current that are ideal resting places for migrating Oregon Coast Coho salmon.
And the salmon need a break: They have only recently been removed from the endangered species list. So when ODOT and partners Slayden Construction, Parametrix and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife had a chance to expand and improve Coho habitat, they got together to share some trees.
300 trees transported to Umpqua River
On Oregon 38 near Cottage Grove, the replacement of five bridges under the OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program requires removing approximately 300 trees. But they won’t go to waste. After Parametrix and Slayden cut down or uproot the trees, ODFW will transport them to the Umpqua River basin to improve the river’s ability to host salmon.
“This project demonstrates exactly the sort of proactive cooperation envisioned in the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds,” said Geoff Crook, ODOT environmental program manager. “In the past, these trees would have been sent to a mill. ODOT is jumping on opportunities to fulfill its commitments to the Oregon Plan.”
“We’ve moved four truckloads—about 60 logs—so far, and expect to end up with about 20 truckloads from the entire project,” said Bill Cannaday, habitat restoration biologist in ODFW’s Roseburg office. “These trees will help us restore 13 miles of Paradise Creek, and we expect to use about 150 more to restore Brad’s Creek.”
Benefits to fish
Randy Reeve, environmental manager for Parametrix and former ODFW biologist, helped instigate the project and understands the benefits to fish.
“We lay the biggest trees down from the bank, so they interlock as a main structure that won’t wash downstream in high water,” Reeve said. “The pools that form underneath make good rearing habitat for young fish. The tree branches catch the leaf litter and needles that are food for everything from plankton to bugs, which in turn feed the salmon.”
Behind the scenes, an equally intricate network of collaboration makes habitat restoration economical and successful. ODOT’s bridge program hosts tours of its projects for environmental regulatory agencies. When ODFW biologists see opportunities such as this, they recommend a course of action that ODOT writes into its contracts with private firms such as Slayden and Parametrix. Funding for such projects takes place through the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and local watershed councils, which apply for grants from the Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Forest Service.
Benefits to businesses, economy
The project will benefit not only fish but the businesses around the Umpqua River basin. ODFW contracts with logging companies to haul and place the felled trees and with landowners to stockpile those that are awaiting placement.
Improved habitat means healthy runs of fish, which in turn result in greater opportunities for commercial and sport fishing and more money in the local economy.
“Everybody wins with this sort of cooperation and long-term thinking,” said Steve Vestal, a design coordinator with the bridge program’s management consultant, Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners. “The transportation and wildlife agencies have saved taxpayers money, and restoring habitat puts local people to work.”
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