Snag Boat Bend Floodplain Reforestation

This project is located at Willamette river miles 143-147 south of Peoria in and around Snag Boat Bend and Sam Daws Landing. Snag Boat Bend is a unit of William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge and managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Sam Daws Landing is a Willamette River Greenway property owned and managed by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Over the last 150 years floodplain habitat at Snag Boat Bend has been re-shaped and converted to farmland and invaded by non-native weeds, disrupting ecological processes, degrading habitat for native fish and wildlife species, and impacting downstream water quality. The project will work on improving native plant cover at Snag Boat Bend. We will plant over 60 acres of historic floodplain forest with native trees, shrubs, and grasses; interplant floodplain previously planted to increase stem densities; and remove invasive on over 50 acres in preparation for planting that will be done in a later phase of work. Plant stewardship activities (reported as C.11 - Site Maintenance) will be conducted for up to five years after the plantings are completed. The stewardship activities will ensure the success of the project plantings by helping plants achieve free-to-grow status.The project will also survey for and treat aquatic invasive species in side channel and alcove habitat at Snag Boat Bend and upstream on the Willamette to Sam Daws Landing. Species such as Ludwigia hexapetala, parrotfeather, and yellow floating heart threaten to take over important off-channel habitat in the project area.

Because the projects scheduled end date is after the PCSRF FFY 2019 award closes, no funds allocated for this project are reported as match to PCSRF funds.

The project will increase the quality of side channel, alcove, and floodplain rearing habitat available to juvenile UWR spring Chinook salmon. Increasing the extent of native floodplain forest will help improve the quality of floodplain and side channel habitat used by juvenile Chinook during high flows. Establishing overstory trees will help reduce the rate of warming in the Willamette River, which will benefit both juvenile and adult Chinook. Trees established along the Willamette River during the project will contribute organic matter to the river, helping to fuel the aquatic food web, and will also eventually become large woody debris in the river that will improve habitat complexity, benefiting Chinook salmon and other native fish. Reducing monocultures of non-native species and increasing native plant diversity in the understory of established stands of cottonwood and ash will also help fuel the aquatic food web and increase cottonwood recruitment. Working to decrease the extent of aquatic invasive plants will help improve and protect off-channel habitat for UWR spring chinook.