Rogue River Watershed Council Capacity 2019 to 2021

The Council Capacity grant provided operating capacity support for the five Rogue River Watershed Council staff members to develop and implement watershed restoration projects and engage community members in voluntary watershed restoration efforts. Key watershed issues include fish passage, instream habitat complexity and floodplain connectivity, streamside forest degradation, and a lack of understanding of the connection between community health and watershed health. Over the past two years, the Council completed 11 restoration projects (maintained 1 and initiated 3 others), completed eight design and engineering processes (and initiated two others), three technical assistance projects, five monitoring projects (including snorkel monitoring of seven streams and deployment of 208 temperature loggers), organized 10 volunteer restoration efforts (mostly in the Almeda Fire area), completed stakeholder engagement in the Bear, Elk, and South Fork Little Butte watersheds, and participated in recovery planning efforts for upper Rogue Coho (with Wild Salmon Center), Rogue Coho Salmon, steelhead, and Cutthroat Trout (with ODFW), Bear Creek streamside forest restoration, Bear Creek pesticide stewardship, source water assessments for Grants Pass and Medford Water Commission, and a National Water Quality Initiative for the Reese Creek to Bear Creek.

Rogue River Watershed Council primarily works to directly improve instream habitats, near stream habitats, and water quality for native fish populations. Every year since our formation, we have implemented an on-the-ground project to improve fish passage, increase stream habitat complexity, or improved streamside habitat for future large wood recruitment and increased shade. We have also been working closely with Trout Unlimited to generate projects to convert old priority date water rights from out of stream to protected, instream rights as another method to address water temperature and Wild Salmon Center to develop a Strategic Action Plan for Upper Rogue Coho Salmon. Our community engagement activities likewise inform and attempt to enroll Rogue Basin community members into projects or practices that make conditions better for the Rogues world renowned salmon and steelhead runs.