Introduction

Meadow Creek is spawning and rearing habitat for Snake River Basin summer steelhead and redband trout.   Snake River Basin rearing spring chinook salmon habitat is located .5 mile downstream of the project area.  The summer steelhead and spring/summer chinook are federally listed under ESA as threatened species. Redband trout are on the Regional Forester's Sensitive Species List.

Historic timber harvest removed larger conifers from the valley bottom, reducing the future recruitment of large wood to the stream. This project will rehabilitate the floodplain and instream habitat through planting, large wood/boulder additions, exclosure re/construction and culvert removal on two intermittent streams.

Existing condition

The Meadow Creek Project Phase I is broken into 2 reaches.  The valley bottom is forested, and riparian vegetation consists of shrub species, primarily willow and alder, with sedges and grasses.  Conifers consist of Englemann spruce, lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, western larch, and ponderosa pine.  Historic timber harvest, including splash dams removed larger conifers from the valley bottom, reducing the future recruitment of large wood debris to the stream.  

In the early 1990’s the Wallowa-Whitman cooperated with Bonneville Power Administration to add structural complexity to the Meadow Creek.  Large wood and rock structural elements were added to the river channel. Most of the structures constructed were log sills that spanned the entire channel on the level.  The majority of the structures are no longer present, due to high flow and ice scour events.  

A stream survey of Meadow Creek was conducted in 2006.  Stream survey results indicate poor numbers of pools per mile and moderate amounts of large wood within the medium size class.  The Rosgen Class for reach 1 is dominated by a C4 channel with some stream segments exhibiting B channel characteristics.  Reach 2 is dominated by a B4 channel with some C channel characteristics.   Large and medium size classes for wood are poor for all both reaches.  The number of pools per mile are low and width to depth ratios are high for reaches 1 & 2.  Personal observation agreed with the stream survey results.  Portions of reach 1 and reach 2 have poor habitat complexity and pool quality and could be improved dramatically through wood placements.  

No grazing occurs for approximately 2.8 miles in reach 1 (approximately 70% of Meadow Creek within the project area is not grazed).  The rest of the area is grazed by cattle.  

The Meadow Creek Large Woody Debris Phase I Project is located on Meadow Creek, a tributary to the Grande Ronde River. The project is located on 4 miles of Meadow Creek (approximate RM 10 - 14) (T 3S, R 34E, S 14, 23, 26, 35; T 5S, R 35E, S 26, 27, 32, 33, 34, 35). within the Meadow Creek Watershed (1706010402); Middle Meadow Creek Subwatershed (170601040202); Reaches 1-2; Union County.  

The objective is to improve spring/summer chinook habitat, summer steelhead habitat, specifically through improving or increasing the following habitat elements.

•   Increase quantity and quality of pools within Meadow Creek
•   Increase fish cover
•   Increase habitat complexity
•   Increase forage availability
•   Increase residual pool depth
•   Increase number of large and medium pieces of large woody debris in the stream
•   Increase spawning gravel recruitment
•   Improve stream shade
•   Improve floodplain and riparian function
•   Increase riparian vegetation

Specific Actions

The Meadow Creek Large Woody Debris Phase I Project would place wood within 4 miles of Meadow creek for a total of 29 structure sites.  Two culverts on intermittent streams will be removed.  Planting will occur on approximately 2 miles of stream (within the existing exclosure fences).  One stream exclosure fence would be removed and reconstructed (.2 mile of stream).