Progress report on the Thompson off channel wetland project

 Photos and text by Douglas Ray

August 23rd, 2012:

Please find attached a number of photos from today.

Herb is now in his OCWC “Yoda mode “where he more or less levitates and is in deep zen mode while digging, digging, digging and more digging! Kind of a habitat restoration karma aura field where nothing else matters to him except creating the highest function salmonid habitat possible!

It is accurate to say that with him thinking about this for multiple years and using all he/we have learned with the other 2 OCWC he has there ( this as you know has the ultimate goal to expand improve and connect the two not separated OCWC habitats) and Neitzel in the logistics/ sequencing for construction to maximize efficiencies and make the most diverse highest function habitat humanly possible.

 The proximity of the laminar ground water was as close or closer than I had expected, for those who came down for the Course woody material mass placement and walked the proposed expansion site on the tour.

We have significant lateral ground water flow having ONLY removed the upper silts and alluvial cobble to the now as you see in the attached photos the grade of pure alluvial cobble rocks and wood that Herb can now have the excavator walk and sit on without generating turbidity  then begin to excavate a diversity of depths, slopes, contours, and terraces to completely max out the potential micro elevations and establish the very best balance of deep to medium to shallow aquatic habitat depths to help separate by space and depth fry and presmolts in the late spring when there is predation interactions, and allow the greatest possible diversity of elevations for aquatic emergent algae and bio film assemblages for primary production.

Diversity does matter fry and parr use shallow habitats presmolts as they mature and prepare to leave for the ocean concentrate in the deepest areas ( that makes sense after all they are preparing to live in the ocean!) This project provides for all stages of fresh water life history requirements and considers predation interactions between age classes in time and space.

Thank you again for the generous support to provide funding for the diesel, we just today pumped in another 81 gallons of fuel that gives Herb 3 long days of excavating and some for the dump truck as well.

We have immediate need for a restoration work party to collect nearby bulrush seed heads and thatch to use as Best management practices erosion control and to initiate the fringing wetland cells throughout the new OCWC.

Within the week Herb will have completed all the final excavation to create deep pools and diverse depths and place wood and finish the edge of the area in the attached pictures.

I am asking with appreciation in advance, for any TU or Rainlander volunteers to come out for half a day to help collect transport and spread wetland seed and thatch as the final finish to this part of the complex as he moves south as far as he can get until the fall rains begin.

Attached are two pictures of how it was used  @ Neitzel farm project

The other pictures are from today but this area will be fully built out and need treatment as soon as next weekend.

Thank you all advance please share as you see fit with TU chapter and Rainlander club members to see the progress of their incredible generous but fantastic use of their conservation investment to support salmonids and habitat in the Necanicum watershed!

August 31, 2012:

 FYI this is yesterday the nearly complete dig out of the 1st of 3 large

OCWC cells Herb is building on to number 2 this weekend!!7' to 12" with

super diversity of depths all over intentional to max depth diversity for

habitat diversity. The laminar water input is cold enough to give you a

headache if you jumped I will get temps this weekend but likely the classic

49 F ground water temp cold enough to get your attention and so important to

have manifested to provide summer thermal refugia when the mainstem is going

to the mid 60's...

Cheers,

Doug

Last chance to drop off your tree for Ecocycling

Mike Gentry and Michael Ellis await the first tree

Saturday, Jan. 7th, we collected used christmas trees at Northwest Flyfishing Outfitters, located at NE 108th and Halsey. We will be taking these trees down to the coast for placement on the Necanicum system.

Alan Moore, right, helps another tree find a home on the coast

A big thank you goes to TVTU volunteers, Mike Gentry, Ron Reinebach, Terry Turner and Alan Moore, who helped staff and make this project happen.  An even bigger thank you goes to Jack Hagen and the folks at Northwest Flyfishing Outfitters for allowing us to use their store as a drop site. Be sure to let them know you appreciate their help the next time you are in their store. Thanks are also due to Cassandra Profita at the OPB Ecotrope blog for helping us get the word out.. Many of the folks dropping off trees heard about this through OPB or the Ecotrope blog.

Terry Turner and Ron Reinebach with a gradually filling trailer of Xmas trees

We will be collecting trees again next Saturday, January 14th, at Northwest Flyfishing Outfitters from 10 am to 4 pm, so if you haven't gotten rid of your tree yet or know someone who hasn't, here is your last chance! Also, I am the only person who has volunteered for next Saturday and could use some company! If you have the time, volunteer to staff the site for an hour or so next Saturday. My e mail is tvturestoration@gmail.com.

These trees will be fish habitat by Monday night!

There is a lot of interest in using ex christmas trees in this way and the response this year was good enough that we will be expanding our pick up sites and trying to get a lot more trees next year. If you would like to help out, let me know (tvturestoration@gmail.com). We would like to have at least one site on the west side of town in addition to an eastside dropoff and will be needing volunteers to staff the sites as well as volunteer co-ordinators to find sites, co-ordinate volunteers, and help arrange for delivery to the coast.

ADDENDUM: Jan. 9, 2012

The Christmas trees have all been placed in an off channel habitat area on the Necanicum River. There they will begin to break down both chemically and through biological processes. Biofilm will begin to grow on the needles and provide food for micro and macro organisms, allowing the Coho fry to have a ready source of food in addition to the cover the Christmas trees provide.

TVTU unleashes mighty effort to restore Necanicum River and its tributaries

Behold Thompson Creek--one of the first tributaries of the Necanicum where TVTU has focused their muscle to restore and improve riparian habitat as part of a much larger effort to make things more hospitable for wild salmon and trout.

If you haven't heard, a couple of years ago the Tualatin Valley Chapter adopted the Necanicum River as its "home water" restoration project, working with partners such as the North Coast Land Conservancy, ODFW, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service--as well as some very interested local private landowners. Many thousands of dollars and man hours will go into this ongoing project over the coming years, and our chapter will continue to enlist volunteers to help throughout the coming summer and fall on a number of weekend project work days.

Much of the work so far has involved clearing invasive, non-native vegetation and replacing culverts, but we're also going to be reclaiming stream bed, enhancing spawning and rearing habitat, and monitoring water temperatures and fish counts. It's definitely not all battle with blackberry brambles and knotweed.

But there is something deeply satisfying about ridding the land of this pox, as evidenced here by Emily Nuchols, a staffer from Save Our Wild Salmon.
And here's a pile of what TU's Western Regional Director, Alan Moore, calls wood porn--the stuff that will soon add instream structure and refuge for happier fish.
This is at the Neitzel farm. Mrs Neitzel (86) still lives here, and is thrilled about this project. And here's more wood, and a wider view of the Neitzel field, the site of the upcoming BIG 23-acre off-channel wetland complex restoration headed by Doug Ray.

Alan Moore further commented: "TU is now an official partner in this project, which is set to break ground this summer. Most of the large wood staged at the site (much of which was contributed by TU) will be placed in the restored historic channel once it is completed. From this wood pile to roughly the treeline you see in the background (that's the mainstem Necanicum) is where the historic meander used to be before it was cleared and filled for farming. While the channel will be watered all year by groundwater percolating up from below, also creating a gentle flow toward the river, the wetland will also connect to the mainstem during higher flows allowing passage of juveniles who overwinter in the wetland, getting fat and happy from the nutrients provided by the wood and native veg, and hiding from predators amongst all the cover."

Already our efforts are paying off. If you look closely at the photo below of previous wetland restoration done by Doug Ray on Thompson Creek, you can see clear, cold water, healthy aquatic vegetation and a half dozen juvenile coho. That's what it's all about.