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more photosFly fisherman Elliot Barnathan, visiting from Philadelphia, walks along the Metolius River while searching for the right place to hook a trout on Wednesday.
The U.S. Forest Service will be putting big trees in this section of the river next week to improve fish habitat.
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Logs to be put back along Metolius banks
Agencies use narrow window to improve fish habitat
By Kate Ramsayer / The Bulletin
Published: September 03. 2009 4:00AM PSTExcavators and log trucks will be at work in Camp Sherman starting next week.
But instead of removing trees, they'll be putting large logs back, using them to create fish habitat on the Metolius River.
It's part of a multiyear project by the U.S. Forest Service and the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council to return large woody obstacles to the Metolius River to create habitat for fish — and organizers have a limited time window for the work.
Next week's efforts to place the logs at strategic points in the river will occur around Riverside Campground, about two miles south of the Camp Sherman Store, said Mike Riehle, district fish biologist with the Sisters Ranger District.
But the timing was important, since the agency didn't want to have excavators and heavy equipment out during the rush of summer visitors. It also has to do the work before fish start spawning in the river later this month.
“We're trying to avoid the busy season on the Metolius in the middle of the summer, particularly around Camp Sherman,” Riehle said. “It's kind of a compromise between the peak summer season recreationally and trying to get into there before the fish start having their season.”
Riehle is leading two field trips Saturday for members of the public who want to see where the trees will be placed. While some people have expressed concerns about the logs creating obstacles for boaters, Riehle said the agency has worked to put them only along banks where they won't interfere with the floating traffic.
The $500,000 effort to place between 800 and 900 trees at sites along nine miles of the Metolius River is designed to make the habitat more natural, he said.
Historically, large trees had fallen into the Metolius and created deep pools of slow water for juvenile fish to hang out in and use for hiding cover.
But over the years, people pulled out those downed logs either because they were in the way of boats floating down the river or to salvage the wood for buildings.
“We have a history of having more wood in the river, and we have a history of removing the wood from the river,” he said.
People think of the Metolius River as a pristine waterway, said Ryan Houston with the watershed council. And for the most part, it is. The lack of big logs creating fish habitat is what's lacking.
And the effort will not only help provide habitat for the redband trout and bull trout currently in the river, but also will help the salmon biologists are hoping to return to the area, Houston said.
“The improvements to the habitat are designed to help improve conditions for the chinook salmon,” Houston said.
Crews have already done work between Wizard Falls Bridge and Lower Bridge this spring and during summer 2008, and next week will start work on the upper four miles of the Metolius, he said.
Most of the work will be done from the shore, Riehle said, although the excavator might have to go into the river briefly. And after the crews drive machinery to the river to place the logs, they rake up the soil and plant native grass or shrubs to help return the area to a natural condition. The recovery process has worked well so far in the completed sections, he said.
The new vegetation “bounces back pretty quickly,” Riehle said.
Kate Ramsayer can be reached at 541-382-1811 or at kramsayer@bendbulletin.com.
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