Fivemile creek is a clearwater tributary to the north fork sprague river which currently has at-risk water quality

This $400,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife program (CFDA 15.631) will fund stream and riparian habitat restoration in the Fivemile Creek area in Bly, Oregon. The key products and services to be delivered over the 5-year award period (8/1/2023 - 7/31/2028) include:

• Removal of hazard trees, burned fencing, and installation of new perimeter fencing to protect sensitive riparian and spring habitats
• Installation of instream structures to provide fish habitat, reduce water temperatures, and increase the frequency of high-flow channel connections and wetland inundation
• Planting of native trees, shrubs, and vegetation to stabilize soils, provide shade and cover, and support beaver activity
• Monitoring and adaptive management of the restoration structures over the 5-year project period

The work will be performed by the non-profit Klamath Watershed Partnership, which has extensive experience delivering technical services for habitat restoration projects under past Federal grants and cooperative agreements.

The projects sites encompass essentially the headwaters of fivemile creek where the flow becomes perennial due to spring inputs. Historically, this area was described as ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forest. Along the creek (particularly within the upstream sites) are springs which create marshy wetland habitat. The entire area is now burned and devoid of ground vegetation, decimating the previously healthy and intact ecosystem. Because this creek flows into the north fork sprague, IT is a priority to reduce potential nutrient loading by capturing or preventing sediment runoff from the fire. The proposed projects are a continuation of restoration work started in 2022, which included hazard tree removal, removal of burned fencing, and installation of new perimeter fence to keep cattle off the northern site and protect the sensitive riparian spring habitats. Currently there is limited instream complexity coverage, and the stream has fairly uniform depth and flow, which limits the capacity for fish abundance. Instream structures will provide fish habitat cover and reduce water temperatures. Riparian and upland plantings will stabilize the soils to capture or prevent further erosion, and provide overbank cover (SHADE). The proposed instream structures would support rearing, resting, and feeding (essentially all live stages of redband trout). Adding woody structures within the stream will also decrease the volume of discharge needed to force overbank flow, which will therefore increase the frequency that high-flow channels will be connected and seasonal wetlands will be inundated. Beaver activity post-fire is already present within the sites and proposed riparian plantings would encourage and support beaver establishment. A low-tech process based restoration design model was completed by anabranch solutions and will be used as a guide for objectives of instream habitat work. The plan is a phased approach with monitoring and adaptive management of structures over a 5-year period. Mid and lower reaches of fivemile creek outside the burned area (on forest service land near foster field) will be also used as a reference site to drive restoration goals. Hazard trees near the stream will be felled before low-tech restoration begins. Site selection, design, and all other aspects of installation or augmentation of beaver DAM analogs and post-assisted log structures will be developed using the beaver restoration guidebook 2.01 (pollock ET AL. 2018) and low-tech process-based restoration of riverscapes design manual version 1.0 (wheaton ET AL. 2019). To jumpstart regrowth in the riparian wetland areas we will be planting native trees and shrubs such as willow, alder, cottonwood, snowberry, currant, dogwood, etc. The grasses, sages, and rushes appear to be reestablishing. A portion of the plants will be protected with cages to deter beaver until there is enough regrowth. All plantings (including future upland forest) will be phased over a 5-year period. In summary, the fiscal year 2023 funding will be used for the removal utilization of burned trees within the riparian, phased low-tech process-based restoration instream habitat work, and riparian plantings. A separate grant was obtained to finish cattle exclusion fencing at sites 2 and 3 to complement overall restoration goals.