North Creek Aquatic Organism Passage Restoration

This project replaced the only culvert crossing on a fish bearing stream in North Creek, a tributary to Drift Creek and the Siletz River. The new culvert is a 50-foot wide, 24-foot-tall open bottom culvert set on concrete footings that meets all federal and state fish passage requirements. The culvert allows full upstream access to 3.4 miles of Oregon Coast coho salmon habitat, including 2.37 miles designated critical habitat, 5.4 miles of winter steelhead habitat, and 13 miles of sea-run cutthroat trout habitat. North Creek flows in its full extent through a watershed managed by the US Forest Service as a late successional reserve. Consequently, access is now provided to great juvenile rearing habitat with large pools, naturally recruited large woody debris, excellent shade cover, and cold water refugia sites. Actual costs for the project have been updated to reflect additional contributions from the ODFW Fish Passage and Screens program. These are reported as ODFW funding and PCSRF 2019 funding with ODFW Fish Passage and Screen Program project numbers indicated under funding notes.

PCSRF FFY 2018, State, and Other funds were used to initiate the project. PCSRF FFY 2019 funds used to complete the project. Because the projects scheduled start date is before the PCSRF FFY 2019 award opened, no funds allocated for this project are reported as match to PCSRF funds.

The culvert replacement designed for AOP will restore watershed processes and full fish passage to the entire North Creek drainage, the second largest Drift Creek Tributary. It will restore fish access to an estimated 13 miles of sea-run cutthroat trout, 5.4 miles of winter steelhead, and 3.4 miles of Oregon Coast coho salmon habitat. Restoring the natural stream bank width at this road crossing will allow cobble, gravel, and large wood to once again form Chinook salmon spawning and rearing habitat near the mouth of North Creek. The North Creek basin currently provides habitat for the Oregon Coast Coho Salmon (OCC), a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and considered a Management Indicator Species (MIS) by the US Forest Service. The (OCC) population spawn and rear in rivers, streams and lakes along the coast of Oregon (and also make use of estuarine habitat). According to NMFS maps the North Creek basin has approximately 2.37 miles of OCC critical spawning and rearing habitat and 3.54 miles of total habitat. All but 750 feet (0.14 miles) of this habitat are above the problematic culvert. Restored access to identified critical habitat is high priority in the OCC recovery plan. This project will also allow passage of juvenile salmon to cold water refugia in the North Creek basin tributaries during periods of elevated temperatures in the mainstem streams. Both Drift Creek and the Siletz River are listed on Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) 303d list for elevated temperatures, reaching temperatures inhospitable to coho during the summer and fall months. Access to cold water refugia will be increasingly important for watershed resiliency in the face of climate change. During 2016 summer low flow periods, water temperatures in North Creek above the culvert site were usually about 3 to 4 degrees C colder than stream temperatures in Drift Creek directly upstream of its confluence with North Creek. North Creek stream temperatures did not surpass the 16.0 degrees C standard (set by DEQ) for core cold water habitat use to protect streams with salmonids and other aquatic life. The Confederated Tribes of the Siletz have identified the Chinook in Drift Creek as a genetically independent subpopulation. Chinook spawning was once prevalent in the lower reaches of North Creek below the culvert location and can be again when bedload and wood transport is restored.