Rogue River Estuary 2020

As part of a comprehensive effort to address limiting factors of structural complexity and connectivity, River Design Group, Inc. (RDG) was retained by the Curry Watersheds Partnership (CWP) to develop large wood habitat structure designs for two restoration sites, Krambeal Creek (God Wants You) Slough and the Indian Creek Off Channel area, located in the Lower Rogue River Estuary near Gold Beach, Or. Both sites lacked off-channel complexity and floodplain connectivity, which are highlighted as a key stressor for all coho populations in the Rogue River estuary. These limiting factors also impact suitable habitat for steelhead, Chinook, amphibians, reptiles, and beaver in the Basin.

Two design elements were implemented to address limiting factors: 1) development of channel fringe complexity through construction of large wood habitat structures and 2) increased floodplain connectivity through selective grading of connection channels between existing isolated topographic features. Large wood habitat structures and individual log placements were installed at Indian Creek Off Channel, and large wood habitat structures and individual log placements were installed throughout Krambeal Creek Slough to enhance the available habitat for native fish and wildlife.

The Krambeal Creek site was treated for removal of English ivy and Himalayan blackberry, and both sites were planted with native plants. Metrics for this project were adjusted to all estuarine metrics at project completion (other than site maintenance) due to the locations of the project, which are both in the Rogue River estuary. Proposed metrics that were originally reported for a single proxy site were distributed to the final worksites.

The actions proposed to reduce the limiting factor of structural complexity and connectivity is to add large wood to floodplains and sloughs to provide habitat complexity, and to revegetate riparian areas with native species in order to provide a long term source of wood, floodplain roughness, and diversity as well as overhanging cover to slow the rate of water warming and support insect production for fish.

The goal of the project is to increase suitable year round habitat for all freshwater life stages of coho and other native salmonids, while also supporting channel/floodplain processes that will benefit other native aquatic species (primarily beaver, amphibians, reptiles). These projects will help catalyze greater and more extensive investment in this priority area, building restoration benefits over time.