Monday June 13, 2022
The Register-Guard —
A successful salmon habitat restoration project on a McKenzie River tributary is beginning its final phase.
Since 2016, the U.S. Forest Service and the McKenzie Watershed Council have worked to revitalize a stretch of Deer Creek so it can support salmon as it once did.
The project requires using heavy machinery to pull down large trees into the creek to foster better spawning habitat, which will temporarily make some nearby areas inaccessible.
Deer Creek was “significantly degraded” before the project began, according to the McKenzie River Watershed Council website. Large pieces of wood had been removed, berms had been built to channel the creek and the stream bed consisted of large cobble and boulders with little of the gravel and deep pools salmon need to spawn.