Alliance restores creek

The Sisters environmental education organization Wolftree is defying the theory that too many cooks spoil the broth.

Wolftree has hammered together a wide-ranging alliance to restore three miles of riparian area on Whychus Creek over the next year.

Last week a team composed of members from Wolftree, the Healthy Waters Institute, the U.S. Forest Service, Three Sisters Irrigation District and Sisters High School descended on a part of the McKenzie Canyon canal that is due to be piped and started removing riparian plants for the Whychus Creek Plant Salvage and Riparian Restoration Project.

The section of the canal is located near the end of Holmes Road. It was there that Sisters High School students came with shovels to save the riparian growth that otherwise would be destroyed during the piping of the canal.

"We are going to beat the bulldozers in," said Jay Hopp, educational director of Wolftree.

The restoration project for Whychus Creek is unique in that the replanting will primarily involve plants salvaged from the McKenzie Canyon/Black Butte Canal system which is scheduled to be piped and buried. The nearly 100-year-old canal system diverts water from Whychus Creek for local

irrigation.

Over the last century it has developed a variety of riparian plants which if left untouched will be lost during the construction of the new pipeline.

When the pipeline is completed, an additional six cubic feet per second of instream water flow will be restored to Whychus Creek. The increased instream flow will allow for the development of riparian growth and re-establish spawning grounds for native fish. The U.S. Forest Service has been involved with this project, hoping to speed the recovery of the necessary riparian areas.

Whychus Creek historically boasted strong runs of salmon and steelhead, which have disappeared with the construction of downstream dams and loss of instream water flow due to irrigation diversions. The improvements being constructed at the Pelton-Round Butte Dam are designed to allow these fish to return to Whychus Creek and other up-stream rivers and creeks.

When the fish return it is essential to ensure that Whychus riparian habitats are healthy. The re-establishment of the riparian vegetation in the severely degraded areas will dramatically increase habitat by stabilizing stream banks and providing shade, which will provide health to the traditional spawning grounds.

A healthy riparian zone will also significantly benefit forest birds that both forage and nest in riparian areas. It will additionally improve the special recreation value of the creekside areas that are very near to town and eventually contribute in some measure to the local economy.

Nate Dachtler, fisheries biologist with the Sisters Ranger District, hopes with this canal salvage project, "...to improve the riparian area and speed the recovery for the red band trout that are already in the creek and for the steelhead that will be re-introduced this year."

The project involves a lot of digging and just plain hard work; however, this did not deter the students. They dove into the project with intensity. Their minds were curious. Questions were constantly asked about why this and why that.

The adults in attendance not only pitched in with the work but were also knowledge banks for the students. "We are supervising the students and helping them

identify riparian plants and then go through the process of salvaging the plants. We use this process and integrate it into our educational program which is helping them (the students) to understand more about the Whychus Creek watershed," said Kolleen Yake, regional education coordinator for the Healthy Waters Institute.

The work was often physical, although help was available for the larger plants that were especially difficult to remove due to compacted soil and rocks. "I am going to be helping with the backhoe on the bigger things that they are digging up," said Bill McKinney, ditch rider and equipment operator for the Three Sisters Irrigation District.

"This is the second year. We had 25 students in the Interdisciplinary Environmental Expedition (IEE) last year and 20 this year. We will be doing this as the canal is being piped. The project should last over the next couple of years. We are also putting in some bare root plugs. We have about 2,000 more plants, pines, spruces, willows, dogwoods, roses, things like that," said Hopp.

There is a significant portion of growth along the canal that is simply too large and established to salvage.

"We are going to try to preserve the large plants that can't be moved like the bigger pines. Their root systems are deep enough that they can probably survive, and we will be careful when we work around them putting in the piping," said McKinney.