Council Gets Rundown On Over 130 Habitat Projects Aiming At Improving Lot Of Struggling Willamette River Spring Chinook, Winter Steelhead
Upper Willamette River spring Chinook salmon and winter steelhead are benefitting from long-running habitat projects downstream of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 13 Willamette Project dams, according to a recent presentation at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
Three primary partners – the Bonneville Power Administration, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and Meyer Memorial Trust – have invested in over 130 habitat projects on the river since 2008, the date of NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion of the Corps’ Willamette River dams.
“Land use and development along the mainstem Willamette since the late 1800s has dramatically altered the form and function of the river, its tributaries, and floodplains,” Denise Hoffert of OWEB said in her presentation to the Council, July 10.
She told Council members that development along the lower Willamette River has reduced channel length by 44 percent and led to “armoring” of over half of the river’s 180-mile length. In addition, dams on the river and its tributaries block upstream fish passage and alter downstream flow and sediment transport; impacts from urban areas along with rural land uses have increased stream temperatures and suspended sediment, nutrients and bacteria. Ecologically rare bottomland hardwood forests have declined by more than 70 percent.
“Flood control dams, bank stabilization, streamside logging, large wood removal, systematic closure of side channels, and dredging have greatly reduced channel and floodplain habitat complexity,” she concluded.
All of these changes to the river’s habitat are degrading the river environment and impacting upper Willamette spring Chinook and upper Willamette winter steelhead, which were listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1999. The multiple habitat projects below the Corps’ dams on the McKenzie, North and South Santiam and Middle Fork Willamette rivers were developed to meet the requirements of Reasonable and Prudent Actions (RPA 7.1.2 and 7.1.3) contained in NOAA’s 2008 BiOp. Many are a part of the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program.
According to Hoffert, the projects are administered by OWEB, a state granting agency, in partnership with BPA. However, from 2008 through 2021, funding of the projects has been through three funding agencies, including BPA (26 percent of the overall funding for the habitat projects), OWEB (45 percent) and Meyer Memorial Trust (29 percent of the funding).
Recently, a 2024-25 NOAA 5-year review of its ESA listing for the two Willamette River species concluded that a “spatial structure concern is the availability of juvenile rearing habitat in side-channel or off-channel habitat. River channelization and shoreline development have constrained habitat in the lower tributary reaches and Willamette River mainstem, in turn limiting the potential for fry and subyearling “movers” emigrating to the estuary (Schroeder et al. 2016). These impacts therefore also limit juvenile life history diversity for this ESU. Overall, there has likely been a declining trend in the viability of the Upper Willamette River Chinook salmon ESU since the last review. The magnitude of this change is not sufficient to suggest a change in risk category, however, so the Upper Willamette River Chinook salmon ESU remains at “moderate” risk of extinction.”
On the other hand, there has been a recent uptick in the number of wild winter steelhead in the river. As of May 27, some 8,826 wild winter steelhead had been counted at Willamette Falls, which is the highest number of threatened fish since 2004. The count in 2017 of wild winter steelhead at the falls was just 822 fish when ODFW declared the run on the brink of extinction and predicted an 85 percent chance of extinction. That year, ODFW estimated that sea lions at the Falls had consumed as much as 25 percent of the already low steelhead run. After lethal removal of the sea lions began, their consumption of the steelhead dropped to 8 percent in 2019, 0.4 percent in 2020 and 1.2 percent in 2021.
“While the viability of the ESU appears to be declining, the recent uptick in abundance may provide a short-term demographic buffer,” the 2024-25 5-year review says. “In the absence of substantial changes in accessibility to high-quality habitat, the DPS will remain at ‘moderate-to-high’ risk. Overall, the Upper Willamette River steelhead DPS is therefore at “moderate-to-high” risk, with a declining viability trend.”
NOAA Fisheries’ 5-year review of Willamette System spring Chinook and winter steelhead can be found here. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/document/2024-5-year-review-summary-evaluation-upper-willamette-river-steelhead-upper
See CBB, July 17, 2024, STATUS REVIEW: ESA-LISTED IN 1999, UPPER WILLAMETTE SPRING CHINOOK, WINTER STEELHEAD NOWHERE NEAR RECOVERY, NEED BETTER PASSAGE AT DAMS, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/status-review-esa-listed-in-1999-upper-willamette-spring-chinook-winter-steelhead-nowhere-near-recovery-need-better-passage-at-dams/
The 5-year review recommends continuing restoration of lower lying floodplain habitat along the Willamette and its tributaries to provide improved refuge for juvenile fish migrating downstream toward the ocean.
Following NOAA’s recommendations, the habitat projects’ goals are to increase channel complexity and length; improving connectivity between the river and its floodplain; and expanding and improving the health of floodplain forests.
From 2008 through 2023, the over 130 habitat projects has resulted in the restoration of more than 5,200 acres of floodplain and riparian forest, the enhancement of more than 23 miles of side channels, the reconnection of more than 450 acres of floodplain and one-third of a mile of retaining barriers (revetments) have been modified, according to Hoffert.
Hoffert said that the long-term strategy with choosing projects to pursue is to “first protect and restore a series of relatively intact habitats with high conservation values in a stepping-stone fashion along the river corridor. Anchor habitats are located at major tributary confluences and river sections where there are opportunities to reconnect the river to its historic floodplain.”
She highlighted three of the Willamette habitat projects:
Partners in the Chahalpam Crossing and Floodplain Restoration project are the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ODFW, North Santiam Watershed Council and Marion Soil and Water Conservation District. Chahalpam is a 462-acre conservation site located along the North Santiam River that has been reacquired in phases between 2013 and 2019 by the Tribes through the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program. The site, according to Hoffert, is permanently protected by three conservation easements held by BPA. Restoration at the site is to improve habitat quantity, quality and complexity for native fish and wildlife species. BPA investment to date has been $545,744 and OWEB investment has been $298,852.
The Luckiamute State Natural Area began in 2008 and is funded by OWEB, BPA and MMT. Implementation has been in five phases and resulted in over 500 acres of weed control and revegetation, over 600,000 native trees and shrubs have been planted, 9.5 acres of floodplain forest has been re-connected, existing high-quality riparian “gallery” forest has been protected and today the project partners are stewarding and managing a total of 535 acres of riparian forest and wetland habitat, Hoffert’s presentation shows.
The 85-acre Finn Rock Reach project is on land owned by the McKenzie River Trust. Funding has been by BPA, federal infrastructure funds, OWEB, Eugene Water and Electric Board and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hoffert’s presentation shows.
“Project goals are to: restore ecological processes that maintain a healthy, diverse, and resilient ecosystem to the project area by increasing the area of floodplain inundation at base flow conditions; increase surface roughness elements; and restore a diverse native plant assemblage in selected disturbed areas (long term goal, not funded by BPA),” the presentation shows.
Hoffert’s presentation can be found in a July 2, 2024 Council Memorandum at https://www.nwcouncil.org/fs/18818/2024_0709_5.pdf
For background, see:
— CBB, May 31, 2024, IMPROVED OCEAN CONDITIONS GIVING A BOOST TO ESA-LISTED WILLAMETTE WILD WINTER STEELHEAD, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/improved-ocean-conditions-giving-a-boost-to-esa-listed-willamette-wild-winter-steelhead/
–CBB, Jan. 5, 2024, NOAA GRANTS $27 MILLION FOR PROJECTS TO HELP RESTORE WILLAMETTE VALLEY IMPERILED SALMON, STEELHEAD https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/noaa-grants-27-million-for-projects-to-help-restore-willamette-valley-imperiled-salmon-steelhead/
— CBB, January 27, 2022, “Corps Evaluating EIS Alternatives For Potential Survival Improvements At Willamette Valley Dams For ESA-Listed Salmon, Steelhead,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/corps-evaluating-eis-alternatives-for-potential-survival-improvements-at-willamette-valley-dams-for-esa-listed-salmon-steelhead/
— CBB, December 16, 2021, “Court Approves Interim Actions For Aiding ESA-Listed Willamette Valley Salmon, Steelhead; Ninth Circuit Appeal Possible,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/court-approves-interim-actions-for-aiding-esa-listed-willamette-valley-salmon-steelhead-ninth-circuit-appeal-possible/
— CBB, March 26, 2020, WILLAMETTE VALLEY LANDOWNERS CAN APPLY FOR HABITAT CONSERVATION EASEMENTS FUNDED THROUGH BPA FOR DAM IMPACTS, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/willamette-valley-landowners-can-apply-for-habitat-conservation-easements-funded-through-bpa-for-dam-impacts/
— CBB, August 20, 2010, COUNCIL RECOMMENDS USING $16 MILLION IN BPA FUNDS FOR WILLAMETTE HABITAT ACQUISITIONS, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/council-recommends-using-16-million-in-bpa-funds-for-willamette-habitat-acquisitions/
- Columbia Basin Snowmelt, Runoff In Most Areas Early, Rapid; Water Supply Forecasts May-September Dropping - 05.15.2025
- Spring Runoff Older Than You Think: Hydrologists Show Mountain Streamflow Old Snowmelt On Years-Long Underground Journey - 05.15.2025
- Columbia River Harvest Managers Confirm Spring Chinook Return On Track, Approve 14 More Fishing Days - 05.15.2025
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!