McKenzie Focus Watershed Coordination

BPA Project Number:  1996-070-00
BPA Project Title:  McKenzie Focus Watershed Program
Contract Number:  19825
Contract Title:  McKenzie Watershed Council

Province: Lower Columbia
Subbasin: Willamette
Location of Project:   Latitude: 44,07,03   Longitude: 122,37,20  
                                    USGS Number 17090004

Target Species: Upper Willamette spring chinook salmon, bull trout, Oregon chub, resident trout, western pond turtle, red-legged frog, great blue heron, harlequin duck, and northern spotted owl.

BPA funding, in conjunction with contributions from numerous partnering organizations, supports the McKenzie Watershed Council's (MWC or Council) efforts to collaboratively develop and coordinate restoration, education, and monitoring programs throughout the watershed in balance with human economic livelihood and quality of life.  The goal of the MWC is to foster better stewardship of the McKenzie Watershed resources, deal with issues in advance of resource degradation, and ensure sustainable watershed health, functions and uses through voluntary partnerships and collaboration.  

Formed in 1993 the Council serves as a forum for exchanging information, a vehicle for resolving issues and as an advisory body to various government agencies with management authority within the 1,300-square-mile McKenzie River Watershed.  The Council is one of the oldest community-based watershed stewardship organizations in the Pacific Northwest and is widely recognized as a leading watershed organization in a field of more than 90 such organizations throughout the State of Oregon.

Working with its partners and interested stakeholders, the Council develops and implements habitat restoration projects throughout the watershed, works with area schools to develop watershed education programs for students, facilitates collaboration and sharing of water quality monitoring conducted within the watershed and focuses public outreach to residents of the McKenzie River Watershed.  As such the Council continues to implement the goals of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, a unique state-led, collaborative, grassroots conservation plan to restore salmon and watersheds.

The MWC is an advisory body to established decision-making organizations and communities of interest.  The Council makes recommendations concerning the protection, restoration, and enhancement of the quality of the McKenzie River Watershed.  Council success and sustainability relies on facilitating and promoting grassroots efforts to collaborate on watershed restoration, education and monitoring activities.

Objectives of the program include:
- Coordination of McKenzie Watershed activities among diverse groups;
- Coordination of Council Projects and Education Programs;
- Maintenance and improvement of water quality through the MWC Water Quality Monitoring Program;
- Secured funding for implementation of MWC activities;
- Influenced behavior of watershed residents to benefit watershed function though a strategic plan and comprehensive outreach and education program;
- Utilization of McKenzie River Subbasin Assessment and McKenzie River Watershed Conservation Strategy to provide a context for prioritized action; and
- Maintenance of highly functional watershed council.

The McKenzie Watershed has been identified as a high priority watershed for immediate restoration and protection actions in the following documents:  Northwest Power and Conservation Council Willamette Subbasin Plan, Columbia Basin draft Chinook Salmon Recovery Plan, Northwest Recovery Strategies for Bull Trout, Oregon Chub Recovery Plan, and the Willamette Basin Western Pond Turtle Conservation Plan.  Additionally, the TMDL process in the Willamette has listed the McKenzie as "high priority" for protecting the water quality currently in place within the McKenzie Watershed.

The McKenzie Watershed has local and regional biological significance throughout the Willamette and Columbia Basins.  The McKenzie River has the highest water quality of all upper Willamette River tributaries and provides significant habitat for one of the few remaining strongholds for the threatened spring chinook salmon and bull trout, as well as the endangered Oregon chub.  

The Council completed a scientific biological assessment of the watershed in 2000 (McKenzie River Subbasin Assessment).  The assessment found that although the McKenzie River Watershed has some of the best remaining fish and wildlife habitat in the Willamette River Basin, significant losses of important habitat has occurred.  These habitat losses have primarily occurred on private lands within the lower portion of the watershed.  The losses have resulted in fragmentation of healthy habitat, and the assessment clearly identifies the need to reconnect existing healthy habitat as a high priority for the MWC in its' watershed restoration efforts.  

Because of its habitat contributions, the McKenzie Watershed is integral to the success of fish recovery planning in the Willamette Basin.  In addition, riparian and upland habitat in the McKenzie Watershed is used by wildlife species of concern such as the harlequin duck, northern spotted owl, red-legged frog, and western pond turtle.  

Historical data show that the McKenzie River produced an estimated 35 percent of the Upper Willamette River spring chinook, but this run has declined dramatically from an historic average of 18,000 wild adult spring chinook to only 5,000 or even fewer adult chinook returning annually.  The last wild run of spring chinook in the Upper Willamette Basin occurs in the McKenzie Watershed. As well, the last stronghold of bull trout in the Upper Willamette Basin also occurs in the watershed.  

The McKenzie River Subbasin Assessment found that the major threat to the watershed's chinook salmon is the loss and degradation of juvenile rearing habitat.  The McKenzie River has a good supply of high quality spawning habitat for spring chinook, mostly in the upper watershed.  However, monitoring shows that most juvenile salmon move to the lower McKenzie River where they spend 1 to 2 years in rearing habitat.  The rearing habitat in the lower watershed has suffered significant habitat loss and degradation, resulting in poor survival rates for juvenile spring chinook. The problems include blocked access to tributaries and side channels, poor habitat in channels, and lack of riparian shading.

Although, as stated, the McKenzie River's water quality is generally good, there are some signs of problems. Since the watershed supplies municipal water for the cities of Eugene and Springfield (with a combined population of over 200,000 people), any problems are a major threat.  Monitoring has found E. coli bacteria at unacceptable levels in the Mohawk River, a major tributary to the McKenzie, and in Cedar Creek, another tributary to the lower McKenzie.  In order to preserve or improve the existing high water for municipal water supplies, recreation and preservation of aquatic life, new or increased waste water discharges are regulated by DEQ's 3 Basin Rule.  

Both the McKenzie and Mohawk Rivers are included on the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's 303(d) water quality-limited list for temperature problems, with the Mohawk also listed for Dissolved Oxygen.  DEQ water temperature standard for the lower McKenzie is 64 degrees F in the summer for rearing and migrating salmon and trout. However, DEQ data shows that in the lower McKenzie River, summer water temperatures exceed the standard in most years, with a maximum temperature of 71.8 degrees recorded.  New data show that bull trout (also a listed species), use almost the entire length of the McKenzie River.  For bull trout, the temperature standard is 53.6 degrees F year-round.  If the bull trout temperature standard is applied to the lower McKenzie, there will likely be many more days when water temperatures exceed standards.

The McKenzie River Watershed still retains many of the habitats important for diverse and healthy fish and wildlife populations.  Protecting these habitats, and where degraded, restoring priority aquatic, riparian, floodplain, and upland habitat from future loss is a cornerstone of Council activities.  Through collaborative partnerships these habitats can be restored to a state where they provide valuable fish and wildlife habitat.    

The Council is able to identify and prioritize watershed restoration issues based on McKenzie River Subbasin Assessment findings through the McKenzie River Conservation Strategy (2002), which is an action plan for education, community stewardship, and restoration.  The Council operates within the framework of the following five Conservation Strategy goals:  
1.  Promote community understanding and stewardship through outreach and education; 2.  Promote partnerships to support local stewardship actions;
3.  Protect and restore key fish and wildlife habitats;
4.  Protect and restore water quality and quantity; and
5.  Council accounts for and provides investment in the watershed.

The McKenzie River Watershed Conservation Strategy Benchmark system describes the desired future for the watershed in terms of fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, education, outreach, collaboration and partnerships among key stakeholders.  The goal of the Benchmark system is to track progress of Council activities leading to a vision of exceptional water quality and habitats in balance with human economic livelihood and quality of life.  (All of the above mentioned documents are on the Council's website: www.mckenziewatershedcouncil.org)

Funds from BPA help increase watershed council capacity to improve coordination and communication among all interested stakeholders.  Local landowners know of and trust the McKenzie Watershed Council as a source of reliable information regarding McKenzie Watershed issues.  The McKenzie Watershed Council represents an opportunity to bring the Willamette Subbasin Plan to the local level to ensure that goals and strategies of the subbasin plan are implemented.  

Willamette Subbasin Plan -

Goals of the Council match the priorities of the Subbasin Plan through its focus on collaboration with local stakeholders within the watershed (Subbasin Plan Priority 5.2.2.7).  Through the EDT analysis conducted through the subbasin planning process, the Lower McKenzie River was identified with the highest protection and restoration benefits. Key factors limiting spring Chinook salmon populations include a loss of habitat diversity and key habitat quantity.  Through a well coordinated restoration program, the Council is able to help coordinate the implementation of the 23 Restoration and Protection Strategies outlined in the McKenzie Subbasin EDT (Subbasin Plan Appendix K, pages 27-37).

The Council is playing a leadership role in addressing the priorities addressed in the Willamette Subbasin Plan:
1.  Deal with the Dams:  The Council has played a significant role in advising the Army Corps of Engineers on the operation of dams in the McKenzie system to support fish populations and ecosystems function.
2.  Fix Culverts and Diversions to Allow Fish Passage:  The Councils has coordinated the replacement of 3 culverts to remedy fish passage issues.  In addition, the Council is working to create a database of high priority culverts for fish passage improvements.
3.  Focus on Valley and Foothills Wildlife:  The Council, in cooperation with the McKenzie River Trust, is focusing on protecting and restoring key valley and foothills wildlife habitats, including bottomland forests and oak savanna.
4.  Restore Lowland Riparian Areas:  The Council is actively working with landowners to restore riparian areas in the lower portions of the river valley, the Mohawk watershed, and near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette River.
5.  Restore Low-Cost, High-Return Areas of the Willamette River Floodplain:  The Council, in cooperation with the McKenzie River Trust, has a strategic commitment to restore complex channels and functioning riparian areas along the Willamette and lower McKenzie River.  Historically, the Confluence Area encompassed some of the most complex floodplain and channel habitats in the Willamette Basin.  The Council has completed one project that restores a backwater alcove along the Willamette River.  

The McKenzie Watershed Council is currently participating in the Willamette Restoration Priorities process being conducted by Biosystems and funded through the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.  This planning process builds upon the Willamette Subbasin Plan.