North Bank Working Landscapes

Wetland restoration and reconstruction of aging agricultural infrastructure improves connectivity while restoring over 40 acres of floodplain and backwater channel habitat access for migratory fish.

Historically, many wetlands along the lower Coquille River valley were drained and converted for agricultural use, and the dikes, levees, and ditches that were constructed on the land reduced critical habitat for juvenile fish. Increased State and Federal fish passage regulations have led landowners to partner with local conservation groups including the Coos Soil and Water Conservation District on “Working Landscapes” projects, which aim to rebuild agricultural infrastructure and to partially restore tidal or wetland channel habitat on working farms to comply with the fish passage rules.

The North Bank Working Landscapes Tidal Channel Restoration Project restored floodplain connectivity to 32 acres of a working family farm. Biohabitats assisted the Coos Soil and Water Conservation District with the second phase of construction, which was designed to restore critical habitat for coho salmon and other anadromous fish populations while also providing improved infrastructure and tidal water management for the landowner.

Biohabitats reconstructed 2,562’ of eroded and failing dike or berm; 3,800’ of sinuous historical tidal channels; and a 2-acre wetland pond. Biohabitats filled in the linear, channelized ditch network, harvested spruce trees with root-wads from the existing dike area, and transported and installed them as large wood structures at strategic locations within the re-meandered channel network to enhance salmonid habitat and cover. Biohabitats also installed livestock and farm equipment crossings on the reconstructed channel network and planted 5,000 willows along the channels.

TAGS

• Construction
• Ecological Restoration