Waite Ranch Tidal Wetland Restoration Project

The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI, Tribes) is running implementation of the Waite Ranch Tidal Wetland Restoration Project. The project is in Lane County, Oregon, on the north bank of the Siuslaw River approximately four miles east of Florence, Oregon on Highway 126, 6920 OR-126, Florence, OR, 97439 (Waite RD). The project is a locally led conservation effort designed to address factors limiting the productivity of Oregon Coast coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), an ESA-listed threatened species (76 FR 35755). Salmon have been a critical part of the diet and culture of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw people since time immemorial. In 2022, the Tribes secured $3.8 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) and $3.5 million from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC); this OWEB-funded portion of the project is under the same effort, and so metrics have been split according to funds. This OWEB-funded portion will complete estuarine tidal channel excavation. The full project details can be viewed by viewing this project and the project funded by CTCLUSI in the PCSRF database.

The Waite Ranch Tidal Wetland Restoration Project is designed to restore the diked pasture back into a complex tidal wetland ecosystem through the reintroduction of tidal exchange with the Siuslaw River. Restoration of Waite Ranch has the potential to generate high-quality habitat for numerous wetland-dependent fish, wildlife, and plant species. The project will also help safeguard water quality and mitigate the impacts of various environmental contaminants in the Siuslaw estuary.

Juvenile coho salmon require slow water habitat with abundant forage for refuge, foraging, growth and survival. Tidal and floodplain habitats are rich in these resources to support OC coho salmon growth and development to their outmigration to the ocean. The design calls for the filling of agricultural ditches, establishment of secondary channels, breaching of the levee and tidegate removal. This will improve habitat complexity and diversity by increasing lateral access to a disconnected floodplain and create rearing habitats for juvenile coho salmon.

Through natural accretion processes leading to the re-establishment of high marsh habitat, project implementation is ultimately expected to result in the restoration of between 10 and 20 miles of high-quality tidal channel habitat--an increase of at least 600 percent over the current length of degraded ditch habitat. This predicted channel habitat length is based on data from reference sites; channels are expected to develop gradually over the course of many years after tidal exchange is re-established. Juvenile coho utilize tidal wetlands for feeding and rearing habitat prior to migrating to the ocean; Chinook juveniles have an extended estuary rearing period of weeks to months and will use restored tidal wetlands for feeding and rearing habitat; and juvenile steelhead utilize off-channel tidal wetlands as feeding and rearing habitat during their estuary rearing period.