Honeygrove Oxbow Reconnection Final Design

The Honeygrove Oxbow site is situated immediately downstream from the confluence of Honeygrove Creek and The North Fork Alsea River, and just above the town of Alsea, OR (Benton County). This project aims to complete designs to restore full hydrologic connection and fish passage to one mile of relict oxbow channel habitat along the North Fork Alsea River, to provide winter rearing habitat, the limiting factor for salmonids in this basin. Upstream access for fish and flow is blocked by a sediment plug and the downstream connection to the oxbow area is a failing, undersized culvert, which blocks access for fish. This second phase of design would continue to advance understanding of physical and biological processes at the site and build on the previous phase of design in which topographic/bathymetric surveys were completed, existing and desired hydrologic conditions were modeled, a geomorphic assessment completed, design alternatives developed, and a preliminary design was selected. This phase will carry those designs through 75%, 90% and Final Designs, both for habitat improvements at the site, as well as for a proposed flood relief channel and structure under Alsea Deadwood Highway. This work will include permit application development and preparation for a CLOMR/LOMR process, the need for which will be determined through this project in meetings with Benton County officials. Project partners include the Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, OR Dept of Fish and Wildlife, OR Dept. of Transportation, a consulting Fish Biologist, ESA Associates and Sub-contracted Engineering firms, and private landowners.

Winter rearing habitat is a limiting factor for salmonid production in the upper Alsea Basin. This design project represents the largest opportunity to restore off-channel winter habitat in the entire North and South Fork Alsea Basin. Adding over 1 mile of off-channel habitat immediately below known coho subbasins of Honeygrove Creek and Seeley Creek will provide a boost to coho production. Chinook spawn in the mainstem NF Alsea, Crooked Creek, and other subbasins upstream, and this work would also benefit this species. Finally, steelhead that spawn upstream in the NF Alsea and its tributaries would stand to benefit from the high quality, winter rearing habitat this project aims to design in the Honeygrove oxbow.