Horse Creek Wood Loading Project
A successful technique of stream restoration is the strategic placement of logs and wood structures to replicate downed trees and debris that occur naturally. Logs are added to creeks in order to improve salmon habitat by slowing water flow to create more diverse habitats that better support fish, including accessing floodplains to provide food and distributing gravel for spawning. Beginning in 2010, this type of stream restoration has been implemented by the MKWC Fisheries Program along the tributaries of the Klamath, including 55 wood structures in Horse Creek. In 2020 MKWC partnered with the Karuk Tribe and the Forest Service in a project in which over 80 logs and wood structures were added throughout Aikens Creek. Using excavators on Aikens Creek and a helicopter on Horse Creek, logs were strategically placed to enhance the stream habitat, resulting in an increased number of returning adult Coho Salmon over the past several years. Similar stream restoration methods are being employed and monitored across the Pacific Northwest, such as in a 23 year study on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State (the full research article can be accessed here: Pess et al 2022 How does over two decades of active wood reintroduction result in changes to stream channel features ESPL.pdf). Continued monitoring of our local waterways will reveal the effectiveness of placing wood structures in creeks for revitalization of salmon habitat, but so far results are promising.
-SLIDE CENTER BUTTON ON THE PHOTOS BELOW TO SEE SOME AMAZING BEFORE AND AFTER TRANSFORMATIONS ON HORSE CREEK-
Horse Heli Structure #1A
Horse Heli Structure #5
Horse Heli Structure #7
Horse Heli Structure #9
Horse Heli Structure #13
Horse Heli Structure #18
Aikens Creek Wood Structure #9
Aikens Creek Wood Structure #16
Aikens Creek Wood Structure #19
Aikens Creek Wood Structure #20
Horse Heli Structure #5
-Blog written by Rayna Pearlingi
-Photos Courtesy of MKWC Fisheries Personnel and Video Courtesy of Michael Max Hentz