Consensus sought on Whychus Creek

Sisters needs to decide what the community wants to do to protect the creek and the residents who live in its flood plain.

Ryan Houston, executive director, and Mathias Perle, project manager with Upper Deschutes Watershed Council (UDWC) went to great lengths to explain to the 30 or so people at a meeting at Sisters Fire Hall last Tuesday that their aim was to get a consensus of what the residents of the Whychus Creek flood plain wanted to see happen.

Their presentation of the UDWC draft management plan left the overwhelming message that not much can - or will - be done to help the creek and residents until everyone agreed on a plan.

Perle demonstrated how past projects aimed at "restoration" have hindered attempts to bring the creek into closer harmony with the residents' interests. He pointed out that one method used to reduce erosion is placing rip-rap along the creek to stabilize the bank in front of homes - a process that sometimes is ineffectual and actually detrimental to homeowners downstream.

Because of the physics of Whychus Creek - given the status of "dynamic" by Perle, a hydrologist - rip-rap may slow erosion where it is dumped, but the water is then accelerated as it passes, causing erosion downstream.

That method of "control," and especially the berms constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers over the years have set the creek on a literal collision course with some structures along the banks. Also, during times of flooding, rip-rap is often dislodged by the energy of the creek's flood waters, redistributing it downstream.

Perle said that removing berms close to creek would alter its course and allow it to naturally meander, thereby avoiding certain structures during high water periods. He added that removing or setting back berms in other locations would allow the creek to run out onto the natural flood plains, dissipating hydraulic energy.

He also stressed the importance of "bioengineering" to establish a healthy riparian buffer zone where willows and alders hold bank-side soils in place. However, Perle pointed out that some homeowners like their view of the creek better than riparian plantings. But the view comes with a price in increased vulnerability.

During a pause in the presentation, Perle asked for questions. Dave Wood, of Sisters, quickly brought out the fact that the City of Sisters (or contractors) had already been conducting their own "restoration" projects, such as dropping rip-rap in the creek, and asked how those actions would affect what UDWC was trying to do.

Eileen Stein, Sisters city manager, answered part of the question by outlining the most recent case.

Not too long ago, a Timber Creek resident applied for an "emergency" bank restoration permit. Community Development Director Eric Porter indicated to the property owner that the city could not consider an emergency approval unless a professional engineer qualified to render such a determination provided him with a letter stating the need was an "emergency." Shortly thereafter, the homeowner provided such as letter, which indicated that the subject property was "under immediate threat ... for the prevention of channel changes that threaten immediate and significant loss of property" and the rip-rap went into the creek.

But the right hand and the left hand weren't communicating when two other Timber Creek residents applied for protection of their property. In neither case was "emergency" approval granted, but one applicant decided to apply for a non-emergency bank restoration, and it was recently approved by the Sisters Planning Commission, but, Porter said, "only under very strict conditions of approval to protect the creek."

After listening to the above discussion, Perle again reminded everyone that that was exactly the purpose of the meeting, to give everyone the opportunity to study the varied situations that placed many contiguous properties at risk, and then get on the same page to ensure that actions taken to stop erosion, create fish habitat and create flood-control measures will actually work.

Then the subject of the Timber Creek Bridge came up. Timber Creek Bridge, it seems, is a burr under a lot of people's saddle along Whychus Creek. Ted Fies, fishery biologist for ODFW doesn't think the design was a good idea from the standpoint of fish habitat, and several residents of Timber Creek spoke up loud and clear that they were afraid it was going to become an alternate route for Sisters traffic, not the so-called "emergency exit" it was designed to be.

Others pointed out that debris was already stacking up against the support pillars.

The final consensus pointed out was that the City of Sisters really needs that traffic plan, badly, (which, if all goes well, will be ready for the final community workshop in mid-April).

As the meeting was breaking up, Dave Wood said, "There has to be a master plan; the only way we will ever achieve a sense of stewardship is to communicate and educate ourselves - and, please, talk to someone before you dump rip-rap in the creek, before you spray weeds, before you cut down any trees."

To view the UDWC draft management plan, and to offer comments and feedback, visit http://www.whychus.com.