Louie, Baxter, and Horn Creeks Large Wood Habitat Enhancement Project

Recent assessments by the Oregon Dept of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) indicate its necessary to increase the pace and scale of priority action implementation for the Nestucca OC coho population to meet viability goals needed for Endangered Species Act (ESA) delisting. The Oregon Coast Coho Conservation Plan for the State of Oregon (ODFW 2007) and the Final ESA Recovery Plan for Oregon Coast Coho (NMFS 2016) identify stream complexity as THE primary factor limiting recovery of the Nestucca River coho population. Louie, Baxter, and Horn Creeks, all designated critical OC coho habitat and Essential Salmon Habitat with medium to high intrinsic potential and higher productivity levels compared to other basin streams, are understocked with large wood and lack stream complexity and necessary levels of pool habitat. This project addresses the primary limiting factor by installing large wood structures in these 3 streams at sites on industrial timber and agricultural lands identified in pre-project planning by ODFWs North Coast Watershed District Habitat Restoration Biologist and Nestucca, Neskowin, and Sand Lake Watersheds Council (NNSLWC) Executive Director. The large wood will be donated by industrial timber landowners Lewis & Clark Timberlands and Stimson Lumber Company. Project activities also include riparian invasive removal and riparian planting.

The proposed project to increase stream complexity and floodplain connectivity by implementing large wood placements is addressing the primary limiting factor for coho recovery identified in the Oregon Coast Coho Conservation Plan (ODFW 2007); this action is recognized in the Final ESA Recovery Plan for Oregon Coast Coho Salmon (NMFS 2016) as a high priority for North Coast Stratum tributary streams. The project will improve stream habitat conditions over time including: pool formation, capture and sorting of stream sediments, providing a nutrient source for aquatic insects, locally raising water table elevations, improving the connectivity of stream channels with floodplains, creation of cover, and formation of off-channel flow refugia for salmonids. These features associated with large wood installations will increase spawning and rearing habitat for ESA-listed OC coho salmon, fall Chinook salmon, and winter steelhead in all three creeks, and for chum salmon in Horn Creek, and increase resilience of each of these populations. The large wood placements proposed for installation in this project will address legacy impacts associated with land use practices that removed large wood from riparian areas and stream channels. In cooperation with industrial timber landowners Stimson Lumber Company and Lewis & Clark Timberlands, and a private agricultural landowner, there is an excellent opportunity for large wood to be installed to provide improved habitat conditions on these streams.