Bear Creek RM 19.0 Post Fire Restoration

The project site is along Bear Creek at Lynn Newbry Park in Talent, Oregon. In September 2020, the Almeda Fire devastated the region including destroying much of the towns of Phoenix and Talent, and burning 300 acres of riparian area along Bear Creek. This resulted in severe water quality degradation, including threats to the of drinking water for Gold Hill, Rogue River, and Grants Pass, and to the riparian and aquatic communities. The fire killed roughly 95% of the overstory trees and completely burned the understory shrub and forb component within the riparian area. Floodplain vegetation and surface materials (duff, soil, and infrastructure) was burned. Primary and secondary channel habitat and riparian structure was negatively affected through the loss of shade producing and bank stabilizing vegetation. We propose to reconnect the mainstem of Bear Creek to historic side channels and the floodplain, install large wood and boulders in the primary and secondary channels to improve the aquatic habitat, and protect highly eroding stream banks by stabilizing them with wood structures and native vegetation.

Project partners include the Rogue River Watershed Council, The Freshwater Trust, the City of Talent, Cascade Stream Solutions, Oregon Department of Transportation, Jackson County, and partners from the Bear Creek Restoration Initiative

There is a concern for the anadromous and resident salmonids that use Bear Creek for spawning and rearing. The watershed currently supports runs of Coho Salmon, fall Chinook Salmon, and summer and winter steelhead. It is located within the Middle Rogue HUC, which is designated Essential Fish Habitat for Pacific Salmon by NOAA and one federally listed fish is documented as threatened in the project area: the Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Evolutionary Significant Unity of Coho Salmon. Despite relatively poor habitat conditions prior to the Almeda Fire, Coho Salmon spawning and rearing habitat occur in approximately 30 miles of streams in the watershed, and accessible stream reaches have been designated as critical habitat. The project will restore physical processes by improving floodplain and side channel connectivity. Wood will create localized scour pools, accumulate bed load materials , and contribute to the sorting of this bed load (creating gravel bars used by spawning fishes). Placed wood will collect wood and other organic matter transported through the reach creating additional roughness and complexity. Side channels will be engaged at typical winter flows spreading flows and reducing shear stresses in the primary channel. Reduction and distribution of shear stresses will provide opportunities for temporary and long-term storage of sediment, both coarse sediment instream and fine sediment on the floodplain in the side channel.