Little Butte Creek River Mile (RM) 16.7 Ecological Restoration

The ecological restoration project at Little Butte Creek RM 16.7 is Phase 1 of multi-year actions in this section of the sub- basin. With a drainage area of 196 square miles upstream, South Fork joins North Fork near the town of Lake Creek to form Little Butte Creek, which flows into the Rogue River at Eagle Point. The project location is just downstream of the Forks and connected with the restoration occurring on South Fork. Little Butte Creek has degraded water quality, stream processes, and aquatic and terrestrial habitats that negatively affect ecosystems. Riparian forests are reduced, grazed, and infiltrated with noxious weeds. Simplified channels and lack of large wood eliminate channel complexity, aquatic habitat, and floodplain interactions, and irrigation practices decrease water quantity. These cumulative impacts also elevate summer water temperatures, threatening cold water fish populations. Rogue River Watershed Council proposes multiple ecological restoration actions: 1.) riparian rehabilitation to recover the native plant community through noxious weed control and fencing, 2.) fish passage improvement at a seasonal push-up dam along with irrigation water conveyance efficiency with a replaced fish screen, and 3.) large wood and boulder placement instream. These actions will restore critical stream processes and improve water quality and habitat conditions. Public awareness is also an essential component to promote the restoration efforts and generate interest with adjacent water users. The project area is identified in the Upper Rogue Coho Salmon Strategic Action Plan, developed with partners to address limiting factors and stressors. This project is in partnership with a private landowner, Wild Salmon Center/ NOAA Restoration Center, Bureau of Land Management, and Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

Large wood placement will provide cover and resting areas for adults returning to spawn. Large wood will also restore stream processes, which is beneficial for macroinvertebrate production as a food source. Recovering the native riparian plant community will provide macroinvertebrates allochthonous material to sustain essential food web interactions. RRWC staff has observed Chinook Salmon spawning at the irrigation point of diversion so removing the need for annual push-up dam construction will increase egg hatching success. Moving the ODFW rotary drum fish screen from 825 feet away from Little Butte Creek in an open ditch to 75-100 feet away and piping the open ditch will return juvenile fish to the creek quickly, deter fish from entering the irrigation system, prevent stranding at the end of irrigation season, and deter any Chinook Salmon adult from getting stranded into the irrigation system due to flow attraction. It is possible the open ditch was attractive to juvenile fish as rearing habitat in the summer. Water temperatures are much more beneficial upstream in the Forks (60 - 70oF) so encouraging juvenile salmonids to migrate upstream is advantageous to survival and growth.