Baldwin Creek Habitat Enhancement Project

This project will take place on Baldwin Creek, a valuable clearwater tributary to the Lower East Fork Hood River located within the Hood River Watershed. The Hood River Watershed Group (HRWG), in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs (CTWS) and private landowners, is developing an instream habitat restoration project along Baldwin Creek, as an extension of restoration projects currently being developed along the Lower East Fork.

The purpose of the project is to restore aquatic habitat as an aid to the recovery of ESA-listed winter steelhead and coho salmon, as well as resident cutthroat and rainbow trout. Like much of the watershed, Baldwin Creek has been significantly impacted by past land uses including agriculture, timber harvest, water withdrawal, livestock grazing in the riparian areas/floodplain, and residential development. This has resulted in loss of riparian vegetation, reduced shade, poor habitat complexity, channel modifications, wetland loss, elevated stream temperatures, and a largely disconnected floodplain. LiDAR analysis identified the Baldwin Creek project area as having high to moderate Intrinsic Potential (IP) for winter steelhead spawning and rearing. The average slope of the project reach is 2% or less, which would support a significantly higher amount of complex habitat if more large wood and floodplain connectivity were present.

This project will enhance 3/4 miles of instream habitat and reconnect up to 5 acres of floodplain on Baldwin Creek. This will be accomplished by reconnecting the floodplain through minor excavation and large wood placement in the main channel and improving instream habitat with large wood structures.

The purpose of the project is to restore aquatic habitat as an aid to the recovery of ESA-listed winter steelhead and coho salmon, as well as resident cutthroat and rainbow trout. This project will enhance 3/4 miles of instream habitat, reconnect up to 5 acres of floodplain, and improve passage to approximately two miles of stream on Baldwin Creek. This will be accomplished by replacing the undersized, perched culvert with an appropriately-sized stream simulation culvert, creating a roughened channel to eliminate the passage barrier at the diversion dam, reconnecting the floodplain through minor excavation and large wood placement in the main channel, and improving instream habitat with large wood structures.