Lower East Fork Hood River & Baldwin Creek Fish Passage & Habitat Restoration Design

Salmonid Restoration Planning and Assessments

Project ID	OWEB 223-4027-23049
Recovery Domains	Lower Columbia River
Start Date	10/25/2023
End Date	09/03/2024
Year	2023
Status	Completed
Last Edited	05/02/2025

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Description

This project developed a final restoration design for the Baldwin Creek Fish Passage and Instream Habitat Enhancement Project and a conceptual design (15%) for the Lower East Fork Instream Habitat Enhancement Project. Work for both Baldwin Creek and Lower East Fork included topographic surveying, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, wetland delineations, and conceptual design development. Work for Baldwin Creek also included cultural resource surveying, and 30%, 60%, and 100% designs with corresponding reviews and meetings with Bonneville Power Administration for HIP compliance. HRWG staff communicated with Baldwin Creek project landowners on project development, design iterations, and finalized cooperative agreements. Staff also recruited new project landowners along the Lower East Fork project reach. Finally, HRWG staff secured in-water work permits and funding for implementation of the Baldwin Creek project.
Designs for Lower East Fork Hood River ended at the conceptual (15%) design level because the scope of the lower East Fork project expanded to a larger area after field surveys and consultation with agency partners. The larger acres at actual represents the scope of this expanded design.

Project Benefit

The resulting project will enhance 1.25 miles of instream habitat and improve passage to approximately two miles of stream on Baldwin and Graham Creeks for winter steelhead, spring Chinook, and coho spawning and rearing, as well as resident trout. This will be accomplished by upgrading a perched culvert, improving a failing diversion, and increasing native riparian vegetation, the number of key pools, spawning gravel patches, channel complexity, and floodplain connectivity. This project area is part of the larger Lower East Fork Hood River habitat restoration project, which will promote 1.2 miles of floodplain and off-channel habitat connectivity for salmon and steelhead. Suitable spawning and rearing habitat is limited in both Baldwin Creek and the Lower East Fork Hood River.

Source

Funds

PCSRF

$73,101

Other

$185,315

Report Total:

$258,416

Worksites

60936289

Worksite Identifier: 60936289
Start Date:
End Date:

Area Description

No Area Description data was found for this worksite.

Location Information

Basin: Middle Columbia (170701)
Subbasin:
Watershed:
Subwatershed:

State: Oregon
Recovery Domain: Lower Columbia River
Latitude: 45.5631
Longitude: -121.5828

ESU

Lower Columbia River Coho Salmon ESU
Lower Columbia River Steelhead DPS
Lower Columbia River Chinook Salmon ESU

Map

Photos

Metrics

B.0 Salmonid Restoration Planning and AssessmentsY (Y/N)

. . B.0.a Planning And Assessment Funding 258,415.67
. . B.0.b.1 Area Encompassed 20.0

. . B.1 Restoration Planning And CoordinationY (Y/N)

. . . . B.1.a Planning and Coordination funding 258,415.67

. . . . B.1.b.11 Engineering/design work for restoration projectsY (Y/N)

. . . . . . B.1.b.11.a

Name of plan implemented
ESA Recovery Plan for Lower Columbia River Coho Salmon, Lower Columbia River Chinook Salmon, Columbia River Chum Salmon, and Lower Columbia River Steelhead (NOAA Fisheries, 2013); Recovery Plan for Lower Columbia Salmon & Steelhead (ODFW 2010)

. . . . . . B.1.b.11.b

Description and scope of the plan implemented

Specific strategies for Coho (6-33): "Improving fish passage at barriers in the Hood subbasin, such as irrigation diversions and road and railroad crossings, also will benefit the Upper Gorge/Hood population." Specific strategies for Steelhead (9-36): "Actions of particular benefit to steelhead focus on protecting and restoring habitat complexity and diversity, access to side channels and off channel habitats, and floodplain connectivity and function in high priority stream reaches." Relevant strategies include: "restore passage and connectivity to habitats blocked or impaired by artificial barriers, and maintain unimpaired passage and connectivity", "protect remaining highquality off-channel habitat from degradation and restore degraded areas with high intrinsic potential for high quality habitat", and "restore degraded water quality and maintain unimpaired water quality". The recovery plan identifies Baldwin Creek as having historic populations of spring Chinook and current populations of coho and steelhead. It also identifies the Baldwin Creek reach within the project area as having high intrinsic potential for both coho and winter steelhead.