Upper Page Creek Fish Passage Project
Page Creek is a tributary of the Clatskanie River in the Lower Columbia–Clatskanie River watershed. Page Creek is a habitat for Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed Lower Columbia River Coho and Steelhead salmon as well as Coastal Cutthroat Trout and Pacific lamprey.
Location: The project is located at the upper crossing of Page Creek and a private logging road in Clatskanie, OR.
Partners: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), Evenson Logging Company, (landowner), and the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF)
Funding: The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB)
In August 2022, the Columbia SWCD was awarded a small grant for the proposed project:
The current crossing at Page Creek consists of an undersized culvert perched several feet above the streambed. The culvert prevents fish passage to the upper reach of Page Creek, causes scour and incision of the channel downstream of the culvert, and negatively impacts in-stream habitat and complexity. Recovery plans identify access to quality spawning habitat in freshwater tributaries as crucial to the recovery of salmon populations. Other limiting factors include a lack of in-stream habitat features like pools, side channels, and large wood.
The culvert will be removed and replaced with a steel modular bridge. Replacing the culvert with a bridge will reconnect the stream corridor, allowing fish to access quality habitat in the upper watershed, and will improve downstream conditions by reducing flow velocities and dispersing the flow to alleviate scour on the streambed and banks. The streambed will be roughly re-graded under the road prism and trees removed during construction will be placed in the channel to promote sediment deposition, bed rebuilding, create habitat, and discourage further headcutting of the stream.
After construction, disturbed areas will be seeded with a native seed mix for short-term erosion control. Later in the year, the site will be replanted by the SWCD with a small amount of purchased native plants and additional plants harvested from surrounding areas to promote faster revegetation of the area and ensure there is no establishment of noxious weeds.
This project is slated for completion summer of 2024.
