Powder Basin Watershed Council
$20,000

This project is on Camp Creek in the North Fork Burnt River watershed, approximately 45 miles southwest of Baker City, north of Whitney Valley on lands administered by the Whitman Ranger District of the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. Watershed issues addressed are: 1) degraded groundwater recharge and water storage functions, yet abundant unconfined and wide valleys are present, 2) limited water table maintenance supporting narrower riparian vegetation communities than the abundant willow valleys than could be present, 3) limited zones for water quality filtering, 4) excessive bank erosion resulting in streambeds with abundant fine silts, and a resulting limited fish and wildlife riparian and aquatic habitat. Throughout the 2.5-mile project reach, the creek is incised, not connected with broad historic floodplain, and beaver are not present. The result is a stream with an altered potential riparian vegetation community of sagebrush or lodgepole pine, instead of multiple species of willow, simplified aquatic habitat and one that is more efficient at routing water out of the system. Both Camp Creek and the North Fork Burnt River experience very low summer base flows and water temperature that exceed state water quality standards (303d water quality impaired for water temperature). We propose to utilize low-tech process-based restoration techniques (beaver dam analogues – BDAs) to reconnect Camp Creek with its historic floodplain and facilitate restoration of the native willow community by fencing to exclude ungulates from seven protection areas averaging 0.80 acres in size. This is a collaborative project between the Powder Basin Watershed Council, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Wallowa Whitman National Forest.

Project Report