Sam Daws Landing and Snag Boat Bend Log Placement, Floodplain Reforestation, and Weed Treatment

The project completed a variety of habitat restoration activities at two publicly-owned properties on the Willamette River just south of Peoria - Snag Boat Bend (SBB) and Sam Daws Landing (SDL). SBB is a unit of William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge owned and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and SDL is a Willamette Greenway park owned and managed by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. To address simplified habitat conditions, log jams were installed at a total of 29 sites in off-channel habitats at both properties. Log jams were installed to improve rearing habitat for native fish (including juvenile spring Chinook salmon, Pacific lamprey, and coastal cutthroat trout), northwestern pond turtles, native amphibians, and birds. 62,675 native trees and shrubs were planted on 32 acres at SDL to restore riparian floodplain forest on areas that had been converted to farmland in the early 1900s. Populations of non-native, aquatic plants that had invaded off-channel habitats were treated across four acres at SBB. These plants - ludwigia and parrotsfeather - had taken over shallow, slack water areas and reached nearly 100% cover before the project. Project partners included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and an adjacent private landowner. Proposed metrics that were originally reported for a single proxy site were distributed to the final worksites.

The project will increase the quality of side channel, alcove, and floodplain rearing habitat available to juvenile UWR spring Chinook salmon. The log jams will provide complex cover for native fish, help retain organic matter, and increase macroinvertebrate populations which provide food for native fish. 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.