The Clackamas Partnership received a $3.8 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to fund 10 habitat enhancement and fish passage projectsin the Lower Columbia River (LCR) Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU). These efforts are part of a strategic plan that will ensure that all people who live, work, and recreate in the area’s watersheds have an opportunity to share in a livable and prosperous region. The Johnson Creek Watershed Council is managing 4 of the projects directly, along with the education and outreach for the communities sharing this landscape. The other 6 projects are being managed by our partners.
Sustaining Productive Fisheries and Strengthening Ecosystem Resilience
The Clackamas Partnership has a specific mission: to restore native fish populations that lie within the Partnership Area of the LCR ESU. Under the Endangered Species Act, an ESU is a population or group of populations of Pacific salmon that is distinct from other populations or groups, in that it is isolated enough that members cannot and do not interbreed with other populations. ESUs represent an important component of the evolutionary legacy of a species, so they aren’t the same for all species. They can be very useful in identifying management priorities, however.
The Clackamas Partnership Area covers most of the geography defined as the Clackamas Fish Population in the LCR Conservation and Recovery Plan. Projects focus on restoring geomorphic processes altered by land use practices. According to the Partnership’s 2018 Strategic Action Plan:
Impairment and fragmentation of the Focus Area habitats and the associated loss of ecological processes has altered the connectivity and function of aquatic, floodplain, and riparian habitats. The area’s streams, floodplains, and riparian vegetation have been significantly degraded by a variety of land use activities, including timber harvest, urban and rural development, clearing for agriculture, construction of dams, channelization and flood control levees, and removal of wood in stream and river channels. Historical and current land uses have impaired aquatic habitat diversity and complexity.”
Species likely to benefit from these efforts include:
Chinook Salmon (LCR fall run, Upper Willamette spring run)
Steelhead/Rainbow Trout (LCR)
Coho Salmon
Bull Trout, and
Pacific Lamprey
With this partnership, we can address restoration at the population scale and achieve a large, measurable impact.
Combined, these projects will provide the following benefits for the target fish species:
9,225 ft of side channel reopened
45 acres of floodplain wetlands enhanced
107 acres of riparian acres enhanced
1.35 miles of coldwater habitat access opened/improved
24,554 linear feet (4.65 mi) of channel enhanced with large wood
NOAA-IIJA Project Sites
Click on any of the fish icons in the map to learn more about that project.
#1 Confederated Tribes of Warms Springs Project
#2 Beaver Dam Project
#3 Clackamas Landslide Toe Project
#4 Holcomb Creek Project
#5 Upper Abernethy Project
#6 Elk Rock Island Project
#7 Johnson Creek Confluence / Milwaukie Bay Project
