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Update: The Feb. 10 meeting will be from 1-3 p.m. at ODFW HQ, Commission Room, 4034 Fairview Industrial Drive SE, Salem.
January 15, 2016
SALEM, Ore. – The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking public comment on a request to waive fish passage requirement for two rock buttress fills and corresponding culverts on Cougar Creek and Eddy Creek Tributary C, both near Eddyville in Lincoln County as part of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) US20 UPRR-Eddyville Project.
ODOT has requested the waivers and has proposed restoring habitat access and lost functions on Bull Creek, a subbasin of the Yaquina River, to mitigate for the permanent loss of fish passage and habitat impacts at Cougar and Eddy C Creeks. The proposed fish passage mitigation actions include: permanently removing a high priority barrier culvert on Bull Creek, restoring and preserving riparian buffers along a portion of Bull Creek adjacent to the culvert to be removed, a 52-acre transfer of private industrial timberland to the US Forest Service for late succession reserve management, and permanently abandoning a logging road that presently crosses Bull Creek and provides access to the 52-acre private timberland parcel.
In the meantime, members of the public will have until Feb. 5, 2016 to submit written comments on the proposed actions, for consideration by the Oregon Fish Passage Task Force. The Task Force will consider comments on these waiver requests at their next meeting Feb. 10 in Salem at the ODFW Headquarters Office. Members of the public may attend the meeting and make comments. The Task Force makes recommendations to ODFW on fish passage waiver decisions.
ODFW can waive the passage requirements on Cougar Creek and Eddy Creek Tributary C if the restoration in Bull Creek would provide more benefit to native migratory fish. ODFW has made an initial determination that the proposed restoration activities in Bull Creek would result in a net benefit to native migratory fish by providing restored habitat access and improving habitat conditions and functions for coastal cutthroat trout, coho salmon, and lamprey species.
Copies of the fish passage waiver application, ODFW benefit analysis and proposed waiver agreement can be found on the ODFW Web site .
Members of the public can send written comments to or request additional information from Greg Apke, ODFW Fish Passage Program Coordinator, 4034 Fairview Industrial Dr., Salem, Ore. 97302, e-mail, Greg.D.Apke@state.or.us, or by calling (503) 947-6228. ### |
