Ernest Creek LWD and Riparian Restoration

This project is located on the Thyme Garden property on Ernest Creek, a tributary of Crooked Creek in the Alsea River watershed which provides habitat for coho and Chinook salmon, cutthroat and steelhead trout, and lamprey species. Current wood loading on the stream is significantly below ODFW benchmark values, and as a result the creek has reduced complexity, floodplain connectivity, and increased channel incision. This project will improve stream complexity and riparian and aquatic habitat conditions by adding large woody debris and planting conifer species.

The project site was the subject of a previous OWEB restoration grant funded in 2002, which restored Ernest Creek into its historical channel. Once returned, the stream did not encounter legacy large woody debris in the historical channel as anticipated and has subsequently experienced channel incision. This project adds a total of 16 large wood structures on 0.7 miles of Ernest Creek in order to increase habitat complexity and floodplain connectivity, and plants conifers on two acres of riparian habitat to increase potential for long term large wood recruitment. Project partners are Thyme Garden, another local landowner, Georgia Pacific, Northwest Oregon Restoration Partnership, and Bio-surveys LLC.


PCSRF FFY 2017 funds and in-kind contributions will be used on project costs incurred during the PCSRF FFY 2017 contract award period. PCSRF FFY 2021 funds will be used to complete the project.

The proposed restoration project will benefit salmon and steelhead by improving the quality and quantity of spawning and rearing habitat. LWD will capture and sort bedload, increasing spawning gravel area in the stream.
The structures themselves will also provide protection and cover for juvenile salmon and steelhead. Furthermore, the LWD structures will increase connectivity to the adjacent floodplain and create off-channel rearing habitat during high flows in fall, winter and spring. Finally, the LWD structures will collect and store organic material, forming the base of an aquatic food web that results in robust, well-fed juvenile salmon and steelhead.