Seeley Creek Habitat Project

The Seeley Creek Habitat Project was implemented on a tributary of the North Fork Alsea River, located approximately 2 miles outside the town of Alsea in Benton County. The project occurred on private industrial timber lands on stream habitat identified as Essential Salmonid Habitat (ESH) utilized by Fall Chinook, ESA-listed Coho, Winter Steelhead, Pacific Lamprey, and Coastal Cutthroat Trout. The project reach also included an old log pond with derelict inlet and outlet structures constructed in the floodplain that created conditions leading to fish stranding. The main channel was categorized as deficient in large wood and its identified limiting factors were lack of instream complexity and loss of floodplain connectivity. Limiting factors were addressed through the placement of large wood structures, channel reconnection to prevent fish stranding, and riparian planting. Total mileage of riparian streambank treated decreased by half at project completion as planting was primarily done on one side of the stream rather than both sides as proposed.

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.