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| Restoring Streams in Wheeler County Helps Economy |
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March 18, 2009
News media contacts:
- Gabe Williams, Project Manager, Wheeler Soil Water and Conservation District, (541) 468-2990, gabemwilliams@hotmail.com
- Carolyn M. Devine, OWEB Communications Coordinator, (503) 986-0195, carolyn.devine@state.or.us
$170,000 Habitat Restoration Grant will Translate into Green Jobs
Wheeler County, OR—The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) has granted the Partnership for the Wheeler Soil Water and Conservation District $170,000 to restore four creeks – translating into potential new jobs and habitat improvement for Wheeler County.
The Wheeler Soil Water and Conservation District (Wheeler SWCD) has received funding from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) for over $2 million to be spent over the next two years to restore Butte, Bridge, Thirtymile, and Mountain Creeks. By partnering with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs (CTWS), Wheeler SWCD will improve these creeks by removing barriers to fish passage, increasing irrigation efficiency, and restoring habitat. Water quality and quantity will improve. In order to complete the work, however, they needed to find funds for project management and engineering oversight. Those funds are also now secure. At OWEB's board meeting Wednesday March 18, the OWEB Board approved investing nearly $170,000 for the projects.
Wheeler SWCD and thier local contractors will replace seven culverts that are currently barriers to fish passage and convert open ditch irrigation to a piped system. While their primary focus is to improve habitat for steelhead and chinook, redband trout and lamprey will also benefit.
In these four creeks, fish are unable to swim freely up and down stream. The Wheeler SWCD and local contractors will replace seven culverts with those that are more fish-friendly in design. The last barrier on Bridge Creek will be more easily crossed by fish after they install a fish ladder. When they are finished, eleven miles of high quality spawning and rearing habitat will be open for fish.
The flow in the lower reaches of these creeks becomes very low and is often even dewatered in the summer. This project will convert over 50,000 feet of open ditch to pipe, which will reduce the amount of sediment flowing into salmon-bearing streams and increase water use efficiency, potentially keeping more water in the creeks.
The local economy will also benefit. "All of the contractors that we hire to do this work are from the region and a lot of the money they earn goes right back into local communities. In addition, seventy-five percent of the materials used for these projects come from Oregon," said Gabe Williams, Project Manager at the Wheeler SWCD. He also notes that agricultural productivity will increase, providing local producers an increase in cash flow allowing them to make capital investments in their operations. "These operational improvement projects often utilize local labor work forces and vendors, which in turn improve the economic conditions of Central Oregon." He also notes that, "opening up habitat by removing fish passage barriers and putting water back in to streams by increasing irrigation efficiency will improve the overall health of the ecosystem. In addition, improving salmon populations has positive economic benefits for both recreational and commercial uses that will impact economies from Wheeler County to the Pacific Ocean."
This is just one of the projects that will be happening this summer. At the March 2009 OWEB Board Meeting held in Salem, the Board voted to support over 100 projects, an investment of over $10 million across the state. According to the University of Oregon's Ecosystem Workforce Program (EWP), these projects have considerable economic impact and job creation potential in addition to their environmental benefits. Every dollar invested in watershed restoration multiplies through the economy and helps sustain local communities. The EWP analysis concludes that the average impact of each $1 million invested by OWEB results in 15 jobs and an additional $1.86 million in total economic activity that stays in Oregon. Examples of other projects around Oregon follow.
On a tributary of the Umpqua, a helicopter will be used to place 120 trees along two miles of a creek, employing the helicopter pilot as well as on-the-ground crew. These restoration workers will purchase goods and services from the community.
Along the coast, the MidCoast Watersheds Council will contract with local workers to restore a tributary of the Alsea River. Local contractors will plant 13,600 trees, install 8,399 feet of fencing to keep livestock out of the creek, place 162 large logs in the creek to simulate log jams, and replace two culverts. Their work will help restore over three miles of a stream improving it for fish habitat.
Not far from Hood River, the Hood River Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) will remove a washed-out forest road that runs along Neal Creek for the benefit of fish, downstream landowners, and the economy. "The positive impact of removing the road is huge. We'll be creating better habitat for fish such as winter steelhead, we'll be protecting property and helping people downstream, and we'll be hiring people from the local community to do the work. They live here, they shop here. The money they earn stays in the area," said Anne Saxby, District Manager of the Hood River SWCD.
In the Willamette Valley, The Nature Conservancy will employ local contractors and nurseries to restore some of the rarest ecosystems in Oregon, native prairies. Much of the work is living wage kind of jobs: heavy equipment operators, logging, weed spraying that in turn helps drive demand for the production of durable goods like bobcat tractors and chainsaws. This work also supports rural economies, including the nursery industry that has been especially hit by the drop in home construction.
The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) administers a grant program funded from the Oregon Lottery as a result of a citizen initiative in 1998. These funds will support the capacity of local citizen groups to carry out a variety of restoration projects; promote understanding of watershed needs; provide technical skills to those working to restore urban and rural watersheds, and monitor the effectiveness of these investments. OWEB fosters collaboration and partners with citizens, local governments, state and federal agencies, tribes, and industries. For more information, visit the OWEB Web site at www.oregon.gov/OWEB.
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