Seeley Creek Habitat Project

Seeley Creek is a tributary of the North Fork of the Alsea River located roughly 2 miles northeast of the town of Alsea and provides approximately 3 miles of anadromous fish habitat. Fish species present in the watershed include ESA-listed coastal Coho, fall Chinook, winter steelhead, cutthroat trout and pacific/brook lamprey. Seeley Creek has been identified in the ODFWs Coho Conservation Plan as good Coho habitat potential but lacks complexity, over winter habitat, and large woody debris. The proposed restoration section of Seeley Creek is owned and managed by industrial timberland (Weyerhaeuser), is surrounded by young timber and clearcut, and is dominated by alder and reed canary grass in much of the riparian. The Seeley Creek Habitat Project is proposing to place large wood into Seeley Creek. In addition to the large wood treatment, a unique side channel re-connection is planned to be completed during the same working period. This section of Seeley Creek contains a historical pond adjacent to Seeley Creek that was connected with a man-made side channel in 1998 to promote off-channel habitat and juvenile fish rearing. The pond and side channel currently create a fish stranding concern, but the site has high habitat improvement potential. Proposed work includes improving connectivity between the pond and Seeley Creek and enhancing habitat. A riparian planting component is also planned to promote conifer growth and large wood recruitment for the long term. Project partners: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation, River Design Group, Weyerhaeuser, and Benton County Parks. 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 Seeley Creek habitat project will address the primary limiting factor identified in the Oregon Coast Coho Conservation Plan (ODFW.2007) and the Coho Recovery Plan (NOAA.2016) which is stream complexity. The large wood placement will add stream complexity to Seeley Creek benefiting the stream ecosystem and the salmonids present within the creek. Large wood placement is known to create deeper pools, sort and retain gravels, and provide slow water habitats essential to salmonids, especially Coho. This improved stream complexity will provide critical over-winter habitat for Coho and other rearing salmonids. The large wood placement and planting will also address the secondary limiting factor identified in the same plans; water quality. The planting portion will restore riparian function, reduce summer water temperatures, improve water quality, and provide future large wood recruitment to Seeley Creek. Reconnecting and restoring the log pond has great potential for improved rearing habitat within Seeley Creek. NOAAs recovery plan prioritizes rearing habitats such as ponds, alcoves, side channels, and flood plain connectivity. The pond and side channel restoration directly addresses these priorities.