Project Overview
Nearly all of the Panther Creek subbasin burned with high intensity during the 2017 Chetco Bar Fire, resulting in more than 90% basal area mortality along the entire length of Panther Creek and its tributaries.
In 2019, the Curry Watersheds Partnership (CWP) inventoried the Panther Creek subbasin to assess sediment loading from the fire and identify sites where log structures and/or rock could be used as grade control to stabilize the stream network. Through that inventory, it was evident that Panther Creek was being inundated with an extreme amount of sediment as a result of the Chetco Bar Fire. The US Forest Service projected 25,890 cubic yards of sediment per square mile. The CWP identified sites in the low-gradient stream network where log structures could be built cost-effectively to trap and sequester sediment that had already been mobilized.
Approximately 36 instream log structures were built in 0.88 miles of Panther Creek to sequester sediment from the Chetco Bar Fire. The log structures also created low-gradient “productive flats” for salmonid spawning and rearing. To counter the loss of riparian canopy after the fire, approximately 70 acres of riparian habitat were planted with conifer and long-lived hardwood trees.