BPA Project Number: 2003-011-00
CR-378952
Performance/Budget Period: October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2027

Technical Contact/Project Lead: Catherine Corbett
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership
400 NE 11th Ave.
Portland, OR 97232-2714
Phone: (503) 226-1565
Fax: (503) 226-1580
ccorbett@estuarypartnership.org

Administrative Contact: Connor Kerns
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership
400 NE 11th Ave.
Portland, OR 97232-2714
Phone: (503) 226-1565
Fax: (503) 226-1580
ckerns@estuarypartnership.org

BPA Project Manager: Jason Karnezis
Bonneville Power Administration
905 NE 11th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97208
Phone: (503) 230-3859
jpkarnezis@bpa.gov

Background
There are two major roles associated with this Project:  1) Direct implementation- for restoration projects identified, designed, constructed and monitored for effectiveness by Estuary Partnership staff, and 2) Coordination- as part of the National Estuary Program (NEP), an important role of the Estuary Partnership is to identify gaps and provide support to partners for ecosystem restoration of the lower Columbia River, specifically in this Project by providing project evaluation, ranking and funding recommendations to BPA; providing technical assistance including LiDAR data and remote sensing imagery and effectiveness monitoring for their restoration projects; providing data and other information to partners to ensure best available science in restoration design and evaluation; and hosting networking and coordination events.

The Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership’s (Estuary Partnership) 2025 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (Management Plan) calls for the region to implement habitat coverage targets to recover biological integrity: 1) no new net loss of native habitats as of 2009 (2009 baseline represents 50% loss, or 114,050 acres, since 1870 [see Marcoe and Pilson 2017]), 2) recover 30% by river reach of historic extent for priority habitats by 2030 (restore 10,382 acres) and 3) recover 40% of historic extent for priority habitats by river reach by 2050 (restore 22,480 acres). Since 2000, the Estuary Partnership has been implementing the Lower Columbia River Ecosystem Restoration Program (Program) to restore lower Columbia River ecosystem structure and function, with funding from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The geographic scope of the Program is within the study area of the Estuary Partnership, and encompasses the lower 146 river miles of the Columbia River from Bonneville Dam to the Pacific Ocean. The overall Program includes toxic contaminant reduction and species recovery efforts, representing the umbrella program for the lower river. NPCC/BPA funding under this Project focuses on a subset of actions addressing BPA’s Columbia Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Program (CEERP) goal of improving habitat opportunity, capacity and realized function for aquatic organisms, specifically salmonids. Funding of this Project provides direct funding for multiple restoration actions under CEERP annually and provides leverage for the Estuary Partnership to expand restoration efforts beyond CEERP for a comprehensive, integrated and collaborative ecosystem based restoration program.    

To implement the Program, the Estuary Partnership staff work regularly with and rely on the Estuary Partnership’s Science Work Group, a committee of technical experts from throughout the region from the public and private sectors with specific knowledge in related sciences. Lessons learned during earlier phases of the Program have guided the development of the current approach, which now includes multiple major components. The components are designed to address the region’s goal of ecosystem restoration and support the needs of resource management programs and partner restoration practitioners:
1) A coordination structure designed to improve efficiencies and increase results;
2) An ecosystem-based restoration strategy that includes identified locations to focus habitat protection and restoration actions based on restoring historic habitat diversity as well as quantifiable goals, or habitat coverage targets;
3) A rigorous scientific review process to evaluate and prioritize individual restoration actions;
4) A restoration inventory database to track status of actions in a GIS-based system, allowing comparison to habitat coverage targets and annual reporting to BPA and others; and
5) An adaptive management framework that includes:
a) Ecosystem monitoring to track trends in habitat conditions and fish use, provide a suite of reference sites for use as end points in restoration actions and place results of RME findings into the context with the larger ecosystem (via project #2003-007-00);
b) Action effectiveness monitoring to track whether restoration actions are meeting goals and need for future actions; identifies actions that work best and informs how to improve our actions (this project and #2003-007-00); and
c) Critical uncertainties research to address specific questions (e.g., salmon use of estuarine habitat’s contribution to adult returns) (via USACE AFEP projects).

Under this contract, the Estuary Partnership focuses on working with partners and landowners to identify, scope, design, construct, and assess multiple restoration actions. This statement of work describes the work elements, milestones and deliverables for the Program efforts that will be implemented from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2027.

Review of Prior Work
From 2003 to June 2024, LCEP has supported 84 projects that have restored or protected over 5,149 acres and opened over 83.7 miles of stream habitat. When combined with partner projects, the region has accomplished 336 projects representing 38,861 acres restored or protected.

Since 2003, the Estuary Partnership with help from its partners has tracked these restoration and protection actions throughout the region in our Restoration Inventory, a geodatabase (see http://www.estuarypartnership.org/our-work/map for maps resulting from this database).  The Estuary Partnership records all identified, planned and completed protection and restoration actions for the lower Columbia River, including those funded not only through BPA but also OWEB, LCFRB, NOAA and others. Information presently tracked in the database include the project sponsor; actions performed at the site; site descriptions; limiting factors and threats addressed; acres and stream miles protected or restored; and known species using the site.

The Restoration Inventory addresses multiple objectives. Information on individual sites is periodically uploaded to the Estuary Partnership website so that partners and the public can use it. Data is also used to produce summary reports and maps upon request for partners such as BPA, the USACE and USEPA to fulfill various needs. The Estuary Partnership reports progress to USEPA and, through an annual brochure, to our partners. Additionally, the Restoration Inventory is used to compare where restoration and protection actions align with our voluntary habitat coverage targets in order to evaluate progress in implementing the targets and gaps in coverage. This information is periodically presented at workshops and conferences and provided to our restoration partners in hopes of ultimately addressing implementation gaps for priority habitats.

Work Efforts for October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2027:
Implementation of the Project will allow us to continue restoring the lower Columbia River ecosystem structure and function, focusing on habitat opportunity, capacity and realized function for aquatic organisms. This Project will increase habitat opportunity by reconnecting historic channels, floodplain and wetland habitats to the mainstem lower Columbia and tidal tributaries. It will improve habitat capacity by increasing habitat complexity and native species, in turn promoting site conditions supporting the production of preferred invertebrate prey, high assimilation efficiencies and low predation and competition levels. Ultimately, these improvements should improve physiological conditions within organisms using these sites including foraging success, growth, fitness and survival. The overarching project goal is to ensure ample coverage of diverse, quality habitats throughout the lower river to aid the recovery of juvenile salmonid natural life history diversities. We will accomplish this with the following:
•    Identify restoration actions working with landowners in the lower Columbia River;
•    Assess feasibility, scope, design, permit, and construct restoration actions within the lower Columbia River;
•    Undergo technical evaluation process by the Estuary Partnership’s Project Review Committee and provide information to the Expert Regional Technical Group for the assignment of mitigation credits;
•    Collect pre- and post-construction action effectiveness data to evaluate the success and effectiveness of restoration actions for adaptive management;
•    Provide technical support to partners by:
o    providing field data collection, including LiDAR and multispectral imagery at their restoration sites,
o    providing quality assurance, management, analysis and reporting; and
o    providing hydrologic, hydrodynamic and ecological functions modeling.

Through this contract the Estuary Partnership proposes to continue to identify, design and construct restoration projects within the lower Columbia River. These actions will:
•    Improve habitat opportunity through breaching levees; reestablish flow patterns altered by causeways, culverts and tide gates; restore channels in intertidal areas and restore and enhance connections between sloughs, side channels and floodplains with the mainstem
•    Improve habitat capacity through adding large woody debris; remove or manage invasive and nuisance vegetative species; plant native plant species; and enhance thermal conditions.

Restoration projects will largely focus on tidally influenced habitats in the lower Columbia River that provide benefits to juvenile salmonids, and we will work with the Action Agencies to explore expanding this focus to integrate climate adaptation and mitigation actions. Present project types may include dike breaches, tidegate removal or retrofits, large wood placement, riparian plantings and habitat creation.

All proposed restoration projects will be reviewed by the Estuary Partnership’s Science Work Group - Project Review Committee at the 30% design phase, if not before. For more complex projects or if significant questions arise from the Project Review Committee, we will ensure another review at the 60% design phase to ensure comments and concerns are addressed appropriately. Additionally, we will ensure our restoration projects undergo a second technical review by the Action Agencies’ Expert Regional Technical Group (ERTG) at the 30% and 60% design stages.

The Estuary Partnership will provide information to BPA on identified potential projects and for those projects selected for funding by BPA as requested by BPA. The Estuary Partnership will coordinate with contractors, engineers, and agencies as needed, and will ensure compliance with all applicable laws.

There are three restoration projects that are continuing from previous contracts:
* Multnomah Channel Marsh Natural Area (MCMNA), owned by Metro - working with Metro and multiple other stakeholders. There are two major elements of work in the project:
Part 1: MCMNA Floodplain Designs which includes developing engineering designs for the MCMNA floodplain restoration site and Part 2: Crabapple Creek Crossing Feasibility Assessment which includes developing engineering designs for replacing the Crabapple Creek Crossing under Highway 30 and the PNWR Railroad.
The MCMNA project area is located along the west side of the Multnomah Channel between river miles 15 and 17 and between the towns of Linnton and Scappoose. The MCMNA is a 278-acre floodplain wetland owned and managed by Metro Regional Government. Key features at the site include a levee along Multnomah Channel, north and south tidal connector channels, water control structures, and Crabapple Creek which passes through a culvert under Highway 30 and the railroad before entering the site from the west.
A Restoration Feasibility Assessment completed in 2022 identified actions to improve and restore floodplain connectivity, off-channel rearing and refugia habitat for juvenile salmonids, water quality, riparian and wetland plant communities, and hydrologic connection and multi-species passage to the Crabapple Creek watershed. The Assessment included a phased restoration approach and Phase 1 was developed into draft 60% designs in summer 2023. Part 1: MCMNA Floodplain Designs will incorporate comments from stakeholders and regulatory agencies into the next phase of the designs and submit permit applications into regulatory agencies so that we can begin procurement for the construction phase anticipated in 2027.
Part 2: Crabapple Creek Crossing final designs will include stakeholder coordination, site investigations, and engineering designs to move this part of the project from the 30% design to the same stage as the floodplain (i.e., final designs and permits). This project is working to address limiting factors for various life history stages of salmon and steelhead and provide improved habitat for multiple species.

**Franz Lake - The Franz Lake site is a large tract of Columbia River floodplain located at RM 138 and owned primarily by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The site functions primarily as a backwater floodplain and is located within the migratory corridor of juvenile salmonids. It is also an Ecosystem Monitoring Program site that has been monitored since 2007.
This is a continuation of the project funded in the previous contract and 60% designs were completed. This phase will take the project through to final designs and permits. The Estuary Partnership will present these designs to Expert Regional Technical Group (ERTG) for a Project Benefit Unit (PBU) score. We anticipate construction in 2027.

***Mirror Lake - The Mirror Lake site is located within Rooster Rock State Park in the lower Columbia River Gorge. The site is a 400-acre tract of floodplain owned primarily by Oregon Parks and Recreation Department that consists of two open water areas, two perennial streams, expansive wetlands, and remnants of bottomland hardwood forests. The site is bordered by Interstate 84 to the north and the Union Pacific Railroad to the south. Extensive restoration work has occurred at the site over the last 15+ years, including a culvert replacement, fish passage improvements within the I-84 culvert, large wood placement, and approximately 90 acres of riparian reforestation.
Latourell and Young Creeks, which flow through the site, support Lower Columbia River populations of coho salmon, and monitoring efforts within the site and at adjacent sites, such as the Sandy River Delta, indicate the site supports juvenile outmigrants originating from other portions of the Columbia River basin. The Mirror Lake site is the second largest undeveloped floodplain in the Gorge, and its location within a juvenile salmonid’s migratory corridor (i.e., at the downstream end of the Gorge, which is naturally limited in floodplain rearing habitat, and just upstream of the Portland/Vancouver metro area, whose floodplains have been lost to development) arguably elevate its importance to salmon recovery in the Columbia River basin. The site also supports other native species, including Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus), red-legged frogs (Rana aurora), Northwestern salamanders (Ambystoma gracile), elk (Cervus canadensis), and a variety of waterfowl.
The site currently functions as a backwater floodplain during moderate to high Columbia River stages; however, prior to construction of I-84, the Columbia River also would overtop its banks at the eastern end of the site (see 1933 and 1935 figures attached). Construction of I-84 severed the Columbia River’s upstream connection. The proposed project would evaluate the feasibility of re-establishing this connection, including the need to modify the existing I-84 culvert at the western (downstream) end of the site. If implemented, the project would reduce the distance juvenile salmonids must travel to enter the site from 0.7 miles to less than 0.1 mile when the river equals or exceeds approximately its 1.5-year flood stage.
Project partners include OR Parks and Recreation Dept., OR Dept. of Transportation, Bonneville Power Administration, and Federal Highways Administration.

Action Effectiveness Monitoring - We will collect pre-and post-construction Level 3 AEM data at Estuary Partnership-led restoration sites as prescribed in the 2014 and subsequent CEERP Plans. Under this contract, we will focus on post-construction AEM at Steigerwald Lake NWR. We also will provide support to the Cowlitz Indian Tribe for Level 3 AEM data collection at the Wallooskee-Youngs site (Year 8). For this, we will provide support on action effectiveness monitoring by providing field data collection, quality assurance, management, analysis and reporting for restoration projects.

Technical Assistance – In Fall 2024 through summer 2025, the Monitoring Team has been collaborating with partners to capture topography via LiDAR and vegetation composition via multispectral imagery at multiple restoration sites within the design phase of those proposed sites. The effort allows restoration partners a relatively low cost method of obtaining these data. We anticipate this effort will continue in this contract.

The level of effort (and cost) for each site depends greatly on the size and terrain of each site. We estimate a small to medium, easily accessible site (<450 acres) requires a half up to 4 full days for 2 people to deploy ground control points and the UAV across the site. To obtain processed data such as vegetation composition and other mapped products, data processing requires another 60-100 hours depending on desired product and size of site. Costs associated with this work include data storage, insurance costs, FAA requirements, and maintenance of the UAV and sensors.

Restoration Project Review
Under the Action Agencies' CEERP within the Columbia River estuary, there are several key restoration partners that BPA relies on to meet FCRPS BiOp estuary habitat goals, including the Estuary Partnership, Columbia Land Trust (CLT), Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce (CREST), Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe (CIT). The Estuary Partnership, a part of the US EPA National Estuary Program (NEP), is an umbrella organization, representing not only these organizations but other organizations such as state and local governments, watershed councils, soil and water conservation districts, not-for-profits, etc. The Estuary Partnership provides technical review and funding recommendations to BPA (via the Project Review Committee) in addition to coordinating and tracking restoration (and monitoring) activities within the lower river as one of our roles as a NEP.

Project Review and Selection
Restoration actions are required by BPA to be reviewed by the Estuary Partnership’s Science Work Group - Project Review Committee (Project Review Committee, a subcommittee of the full Science Work Group) at the 30% design phase, if not before. For more complex projects or if significant questions arise, the Project Review Committee may request to review the project again at the 60% design phases to ensure comments and concerns are addressed by project implementers. The Project Review Committee evaluates the overall ecological benefit of the action, cost effectiveness, constructability, permit issues, and long term maintenance considerations. The Project Review Committee then provides BPA a technical and funding recommendation based on this analysis.

Since 2010, all estuary restoration actions undergo a second technical review by the Action Agencies’ Expert Regional Technical Group (ERTG) at the 60% design stage using the criteria developed by them. BPA then makes final funding decisions based on the ERTG score and the overall project cost.

Technical Review Process:
1) Advertisement and Proposal Receipt – the Estuary Partnership distributes an announcement of the review cycle to initiate the scientific review process during up to three cycles of each calendar year. The announcement includes instructions on how to apply, funding available, priorities, etc.

Proposals received by the due date are recorded and distributed to the Project Review Committee members. Project Review Committee members also receive the project evaluation criteria, a scoring sheet and a copy of the funding announcement. Information on all these are available on the Estuary Partnership’s website: http://www.estuarypartnership.org/our-work/habitat-restoration/habitat-restoration-project-funding.
2) Site Visits – the Estuary Partnership works with sponsors to schedule site visits to each site for the Project Review Committee to participate in. At each site, restoration sponsors lead the tour and answer reviewer questions re: restoration actions.  The site visits allow reviewers to review the site, ask questions of sponsors and allow sponsors to provide an overview and additional information to Project Review Committee members.  
3) Technical Review and Scoring - The Estuary Partnership then convenes the Project Review Committee to formally review and score the proposals. At these meetings, project sponsors are invited to present an overview of the project and respond to any remaining questions from Project Review Committee members. After the sponsor presentations, the Project Review Committee discusses benefits and concerns they have with each project, and ultimately provides a recommendation on ecological benefits and considerations for improvements. The Project Review Committee then scores each project and hands in a signed evaluation sheet to Estuary Partnership staff. An Estuary Partnership staff member facilitates the meeting and discussions but does not participate in the scoring or evaluation of the projects.  

When evaluating projects, the Project Review Committee focuses largely on providing scientific review of potential ecosystem benefits from the proposed actions and concerns they have with designs, long term success of actions including climate adaptation measures, community support, multi-species benefits, cost, climate adaptation measures, and constructability. The Project Review Committee provides clear guidance on whether an action should be funded as proposed, and if not, provides recommendations on potential improvements to ensure a scientifically-based, successful action. They can request to see the action again at a further phase to ensure sponsors are addressing their recommendations.

The Committee also scores actions, using the Estuary Partnership’s evaluation criteria (available from the Estuary Partnership website: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.estuarypartnership.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/Estuary%20Partnership%20Review%20Criteria_2021_0.pdf). These criteria were developed in a regional workshop with over 100 participants and have been reviewed by the Northwest Power Conservation Council’s Independent Scientific Review Panel (NPCC’s ISRP). These criteria were updated in 2013 to integrate the Estuary Partnership’s voluntary habitat coverage targets and again in 2020 to include climate adaptation measures.

Estuary Partnership staff tally proposal scores and rank them by median scores. Estuary Partnership staff then compiles the results from the Project Review Committee scientific review and provides them and their funding recommendations in a written letter to BPA. BPA weighs these recommendations in light of project costs and ERTG scores, and then makes funding decisions as to whether the project should proceed.

Project Review Committee members include federal and state representatives from fish and wildlife management agencies and include a wide range and depth of expertise such as fisheries biologists, restoration program managers and salmon recovery planners; representative agencies include US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. All members of the Project Review Committee are well experienced and familiar with designing, permitting and implementing restoration and mitigation projects. These experts are well equipped to evaluate the actions from an ecological benefit, fish passage and stranding, constructability, engineering, and cost over-run perspective.

In summary, under this contract the Estuary Partnership will work in coordination with the Action Agencies, partners and others to accomplish the following:
•    Identify protection and restoration actions working with landowners in the lower Columbia River;
•    Assess feasibility, scope, design, permit, and construct restoration actions within the lower Columbia River;
•    Undergo technical evaluation process by the Estuary Partnership’s Project Review Committee and the ERTG at appropriate times, determined in collaboration with BPA;
•    Maintain a scientifically rigorous set of review criteria for evaluating individual restoration actions;
•    Provide technical review and funding recommendations of restoration and protection actions for BPA;
•    Collect pre- and post-construction action effectiveness data to evaluate the success and effectiveness of restoration actions for adaptive management; and
•    Provide technical support to partners by:
o    providing field data collection, including LiDAR and multispectral imagery at their restoration sites,
o    providing quality assurance, management, analysis and reporting; and
o    providing hydrologic, hydrodynamic and ecological functions modeling.

The outcome of this contract will be several completed restoration projects, pre- and post-construction data collected to allow us to evaluate the success of newly completed projects, and potential new project techniques. Results will allow the Action Agencies and regional partners to adaptively manage ecosystem restoration in the lower Columbia River, at both the program and project levels to provide a greater likelihood of success over the long term.