South Fork Little Butte Creek River Mile (RM) 4.5, RM 5.5, and RM 6.2 Riparian Rehabilitation

The project at South Fork Little Butte Creek River Mile (RM) 4.5, RM 5.5, and RM 6.2 is Phase 4 of multi-year actions throughout the sub- basin. With a drainage area of 140 square miles, South Fork joins North Fork near the town of Lake Creek to form Little Butte Creek, which flows into the Rogue River at Eagle Point. South Fork has degraded water quality, stream processes, and aquatic and terrestrial habitats that negatively affect ecosystems. Riparian forests are reduced, grazed, and infiltrated with noxious weeds, unimpeded livestock access to the creek increases sedimentation and nutrient loading, simplified channels and large wood removal eliminate channel complexity, aquatic habitat, and floodplain interactions, and irrigation practices decrease water quantity. These cumulative impacts also elevate summer water temperatures, threatening cold water fish populations. We propose a riparian rehabilitation ecological restoration action to recover the native plant community through noxious weed control, natural recruitment of native species, and native nursery stock planting. These actions will restore critical stream processes and improve water quality and habitat conditions by increasing floodplain function. An additional objective is to increase public awareness of restoration efforts and generate interest through production and distribution of media, along with project tours. The project area is identified in the Upper Rogue Coho Salmon Strategic Action Plan, developed with partners to address limiting factors and stressors. This project is in partnership with private landowners, Wild Salmon Center/ NOAA Restoration Center, and Bureau of Land Management.

Because the projects scheduled end date is after the PCSRF FFY 2022 award closes, no funds allocated for this project are reported as match to PCSRF funds.

Part of the long-term strategy is to build contiguous ecological restoration projects that will reduce critical summer rearing temperatures into the optimal biological range throughout the entire South Fork drainage and into mainstem Little Butte Creek.With the recovery of the native riparian plant community at RM 4.5, RM 5.5, and RM 6.2, allochthonous inputs will provide essential food web interactions, increase aquatic invertebrate communities, and provide food sources for salmonids. The riparian forest will also provide a long-term buffer on lower water temperature and higher water quality as well as contribute more large wood recruitment to enhance stream processes and aquatic habitat.