Nell Creek Fish Passage Implementation

This project is located on Nell Creek, which is an anadromous fish bearing tributary to the Chetco River that enters near river mile 7.5. Fish access into Nell Creek is currently blocked near the confluence of Nell Creek and the Chetco River by a concrete sill and by an undersized road culvert. Through this project, the concrete sill will be removed and replaced with a short segment of roughened channel, and the undersized road culvert will be replaced with a countersunk pipe arch culvert. Riparian planting and invasive removal will also occur. Project partners include the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the South Coast Watershed Council, and the project landowners.

This project will restore juvenile and adult salmonid and lamprey passage to spawning and rearing habitat. Nearly all of this habitat occurs upstream of the South Bank Chetco River Road, in a forested environment that yields high water quality. Presently, this habitat is stable and relatively complex, and it will become more so in the future as the private and federal riparian reserves mature and diversify. Salmon and steelhead populations in the Chetco River watershed have been in decline for the past ~30 years, resulting in the closure of sport and commercial fishing during the most depressed years, and the listing of coho salmon as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. While there are many reasons for these declines, the loss of habitat in the lower watershed to commercial and residential development is a key factor, as are the impacts to spawning and rearing habitat, and water quality, that resulted from the 2017 Chetco Bar Fire. The loss of habitat in the lower watershed and the impacts of the fire will not be reversed in the foreseeable future, so the health and recovery of the Chetco River fish populations will increasingly depend on habitat, such as Nell Creek, that has not been impacted by these events.