R & E Grant Application Project #: 15 Biennium 15-008 West Fork Millicoma River Habitat Restoration Project Information R&E Project $52,820.00 Request: Total Project: $322,437.00 Start Date: 8/6/2015 End Date: 9/15/2016 Organization: Coos Watershed Association (Tax ID #: 93-1146207) Fiscal Officer Name: Anne Jelinek Address: 63534 Kingfisher Drive Charleston, OR 97420 Telephone: 541-888-5922 Fax: 541-888-6111 Email: [email protected] Applicant Information Name: Bill Conroy Address: 63534 Kingfisher Drive Charleston, OR 97420 Telephone: 514-888-5922 Email: [email protected] Past Recommended or Completed Projects This applicant has no previous projects that match criteria. Project #: 15-008 Last Modified/Revised: 3/11/2015 3:11:32 PM Page 1 of 9 West Fork Millicoma River Habitat Restoration Location Information Where is it? The project will occur on public land owned or managed by another party Landowner Information Name: Oregon Dept. of Forestry, Elliot State Forest Address: 63612 Fifth Rd Coos Bay, OR, 97420 Phone: 541-267-1751 Email: [email protected] Site Description Street Address, nearest intersection, or other descriptive location. Elliott State Forest, 8000/8100 Roads junction Directions to the site from the nearest highway junction. From Coos Bay, take South Fork Coos River Highway to Hwy 241. Take Hwy 241 past Allegany and turn left onto Elliott State Forest (ESF) 1000 Road. Drive about 10 miles to ESF 9000 road. Turn left onto 9000 Road, drive to junction with 8000 Road. Turn left onto 8000 Road, heading downstream along West Fork Millicoma River. The upper end of the project reach is approximately 1 mile from 8000/8100 Road junction along the 8100 Road. Following project completion, public anglers will be allowed the following level of access to the project site: Full access Please describe what leases, easements, agreements are in place to ensure angler access to the project site, and what is the length of each agreement. Elliot State Forest is open to the public year-round. Dominant Land Use Type: Forest Project Location General Project Location. County: Coos Town/City: Allegany ODFW Dist: Coos-Coquille Stream/Lake/Es West Fork Millicoma River tuary Name: Sub-basin: Coos River Tributary of: Millicoma River Specific Project Location. Latitude Longitude 43.5651 -123.9635 West Project #: 15-008 Last Modified/Revised: 3/11/2015 3:11:32 PM Page 2 of 9 West Fork Millicoma River Habitat Restoration Project Summary Project Summary Please provide a couple sentence summary of the proposal. In the West Fork Millicoma River, we propose to place large wood and boulder at approximately 20 sites using 61 trees and approximately 720 cubic yards of boulders as ballast for the large wood. In Buck Creek, we propose to place large wood only at 10 sites using 41 trees. Overall Project Goals Describe the primary goals or outcomes of the entire project, including elements not requesting funding from R&E. Increase number and type of fish habitat structures Alter stream hydraulics to promote long-term fish habitat Primary objectives of R&E funding Please describe the measurable objectives for the R&E portion of the funding request. 1. Increase wood count to >21 pieces/100m. 2. Increase volume of large wood to 30 meters3/ 100m. 3. Increase number of complex pools from 0 to >2.5 per km. 4. Increase key wood pieces to >3 pieces/ 100m. 5. Increase percent area gravel by 20%. Current Situation/Justification Please describe the current situation and explain why this funding is needed. West Fork Millicoma River: The project reach proposed is 1.3 miles long and has a bedrock dominated streambed. The large proportion of bedrock in this reach is largely due to a deficiency of large wood and other key features (e.g., boulders) that would dissipate hydraulic energy and store and sort gravel and organic material. The 2011 aquatic habitat survey (AHI) conducted by CoosWA in this reach found a lack of: 1) wood volume 2) slackwater pools; 3) key pieces of wood; and 4) complex pools. The project reaches have good winter rearing intrinsic potential for coho salmon (IP = 0.41 -0.96) and steelhead trout (IP= 0.52 – 0.92). Recreation and Commercial Benefit This project will provide benefits to: Recreational fisheries Explain how this project will contribute to current (and/or potential) fishing opportunities, access, or fisheries management. This project is designed to increase spawning and rearing habitat for steelhead trout, and coho and Chinook salmon. It is expected that increasing spawning and success will subsequently increase populations of all of these species. The benefits will be seen in the restoration reaches as well as in the migratory corridors as successful juveniles return as adults. Additionally, this West Fork Millicoma River reach is used for steelhead trout fishing in the spring and summer. Project #: 15-008 Last Modified/Revised: 3/11/2015 3:11:32 PM Page 3 of 9 West Fork Millicoma River Habitat Restoration Increasing habitat in this reach will likely increase residence times of steelhead, and thereby potentially increase fishing opportunities in this reach. Is this project part of an approved Salmon-Trout Enhancement Program (STEP) activity? No This project has been identified as a priority for: Local/watershed Basin/regional Identify any plan or other document that identifies this priority. Restoration of aquatic habitat through active wood placement is a key practice identified in the Elliot State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan (August 2008). the Coos Watershed Association Action Plan (1995) identifies the introduction of large wood and boulders under the “Strategies to Address Winter Habitat Concerns” (page 30). The Oregon Coastal Coho Assessment identifies stream complexity as the primary life cycle bottleneck for the Coos basin coho population. stream complexity is identified as limiting in the OWEB Coastal Watershed Indicators (2007) restoration prioritization evaluation. Spawning gravel quantity and quality, summer and winter rearing habitat complexity, and large wood are all considered “limiting” in the Summary of Watershed Health Indicators for the Oregon Coast Coho ESU 2007 (January, 2008). This project is intended to benefit the following species: Fall Chinook Salmon Coho Chinook Salmon Lamprey Winter Steelhead Summer Steelhead Cutthroat Trout Rainbow Trout This project will benefit anglers or fishery by providing: Angling Opportunity Habitat Enhancements Angling Opportunity This project will: Enhance natural production of fish stocks to levels that allow for recreational fishing opportunities Restore a degraded fishery Habitat Enhancements The primary purpose of this project is to improve/increase: In water structure, complexity, and habitat Project Description Project #: 15-008 Last Modified/Revised: 3/11/2015 3:11:32 PM Page 4 of 9 West Fork Millicoma River Habitat Restoration Schedule Activity Date RE Funding Permit Applications 02/2015 No Materials Acquisition 05/2015 No Contracting 05/2015 No Construction 08/2015 Yes Willow Planting 03/2016 No Project Inspection 10/2015 No Post Project Implementation Review 12/2017 No Permits Permit Secured? Date Expected Section 404 Dredge/fill; Oregon DSL; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers No 04/2015 ODF Operations Notification; Oregon Dept. of Forestry No 04/2015 Project Design and Description Please describe in detail the methods or approach that will be used to achieve the project objectives. West Fork Millicoma River: Large wood placement designs will follow the Oregon Guide to Placement of Wood, Boulder and Gravel for Habitat Restoration (ODFW, 2010) and techniques developed in two previous, upstream phases of this project. As a part of an OWEB technical assistance (TA) grant received by CoosWA in March 2009, designs for log jams were developed for the Phase I reach of the WFMR. These designs were further refined as CoosWA implemented Phase II of this project. The WFMR log jams proposed here will primarily follow the lateral scour jam and bar apex jam designs developed with the TA and Phase II of this project. These types of structures mimic the wind-throw emulation and slide-emulation designs in the Oregon Guide to Placement of Wood (ODFW, 2010). Our experience in constructing the same type of structures in two upstream (and connected) reaches indicates that the size of wood, orientation of wood, type of wood, location of wood, availability of natural keys (e.g., riparian trees or large existing boulders), depth of design flows, velocities of design flows, combined with numerous other factors all dictate the size and number of boulders necessary to stabilize log jams. We evaluated hydraulic conditions of a 100-year flood, and used this analysis to determine how much ballast will be needed to provide sufficient stability for each log jam. Stability will be added through bracing logs between live standing riparian trees and/or large existing boulders and, when necessary, with boulders brought in from offsite locations. It is expected that an average of 3 trees and 30-40 cubic yards of boulders will be installed per site (see Section 6 for a detailed description). In the WFMR, • We propose constructing 20 engineered log jam structures (ELJs) at the approximate locations. ELJs are constructed by placing key trees (with attached rootwads) within the OHW of a stream channel. Racked logs (mimicking floating wood) are placed within the key trees; and the portions of the structure are weighted down with ballast boulders so that the trees do not float and the structure remains intact during floods. • The trees will be obtained from adjacent Elliot State Forest (ESF) timber stands outside the Riparian Management Area (RMA). Trees will be selected by working with an ODF Wildlife Biologist and likely a USFWS Biologist to ensure that avian habitat needs are taken into consideration. • Thirty-five key trees will be placed as logs with root wads with DBH 22-36" and be 50-120' long.