Restoring Habitat to Recover Coho Salmon on the Oregon Coast
How NOAA and Partners are Restoring the Oregon Coast's Rivers and Streams
Road Map to Recovery
Coho salmon populations on the Oregon Coast are listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act . There is not enough high-quality habitat for juvenile fish to rear in. NOAA and partners help support the recovery of Oregon Coast coho by restoring the habitats they rely on for food, protection, and safe areas for spawning and rearing.
Tioga Creek in the Coos Basin
To guide habitat restoration, NOAA and partners joined together to create the Oregon Coast Coho Partnership . Our goal: help support coho recovery, ecosystem health, and local economies.
Community Engagement
Through the Oregon Coast Coho Partnership, NOAA joined with community organizations, tribes, local, state, and federal partners to collaborate on a common vision to restore coho on the Oregon Coast.
West Fork Evans project. Applegate Partnership and Watershed Council.
Local groups develop strategic action plans, which detail a diverse set of high-priority restoration projects.
Plan Development
Locally-led teams develop strategic action plans for each coho population . The teams identify and prioritize habitat restoration projects for their area using modeling and local knowledge.
Degraded habitat in the Siuslaw watershed prior to restoration.
Project Implementation
Local workgroups apply for funding and begin implementing the projects identified in the strategic action plans. These detailed plans help teams compete for larger pots of funding and help funders optimize their investments.
A snorkel survey looking for juvenile salmon.
Putting it All Together
With so many diverse partners working together, more than 30 habitat restoration projects have been funded and are underway. Local partners are also implementing additional projects based on the priorities in their strategic action plans. The NOAA Restoration Atlas captures some of the breadth of projects beyond the scope of this storymap.
Strategic Action Plans
Each strategic action plan combines high-resolution modeling with on-the-ground knowledge to develop a list of the most essential projects for restoring coho in the watershed.
Pictured above: A 3D model used to identifity restoration locations.
Development of strategic action plans for three additional populations are currently underway: the Upper Rogue, the Siletz, and the Coquille.
The Tillamook has also received funding to create a strategic action plan.
Ultimately, the partnership aims to develop strategic action plans for each independent coho salmon population on the Oregon Coast.
This interactive map displays the habitat restoration projects that have been funded under the strategic action plans. Click each point to find out more detail about project specifics. Click on the pins to see project photos.
Restoration Efforts
Through the strategic action plans, partners have identified a suite of projects to help restore Oregon Coast coho populations. These projects use a diverse array of techniques, meeting the unique restoration needs for each watershed.
The types of projects include:
- Removing fish passage barriers to reopen stream habitat
- Adding natural structures to create habitat complexity
- Building foundation structures for beaver dams, called “analogs”
- Reconnecting historical side channels and oxbows
- Reconnecting estuaries to tides
- Restoring habitat along the banks of streams, called “riparian” areas
- Reconnecting rivers to their historical floodplains
Nehalem
In the Nehalem watershed, projects underway include: building beaver dam analogs, creating instream habitat complexity, restoring riparian habitat, and restoring stream form and function.
Beaver dam analogs in the Nehalem watershed.
A pilot project constructed beaver dam analogs (pictured above) at 60 locations in the watershed. Analogs mimic the form and function of beaver dams. They lay a foundation for beavers to create dams, while also creating pockets of slow-moving water and deep pools that benefit juvenile coho rearing.
Beaver Dam Analogs in the Nehalem watershed.
Learn more about the habitat benefits of beaver dam analogs in the following video.
Produced by Freshwaters Illustrated in Partnership with Pacific State Marine Fisheries Commission & USFWS Sportfish Restoration
Siletz
In the Siletz watershed, the Siletz Tribe and the Mid-Coast Watershed Council are working together with other partners on projects to restore tidal connections and create stream habitat complexity.
In Drift Creek a tidal reconnection project will restore the historic estuarin-tidal connection.
Drift Creek pre-restoration.
Tidal reconnection projects are completed by removing existing berms, dikes, and levees, and modifying tide gates.
Unrestored estuary habitat
Siuslaw
In the Siuslaw watershed, restoration projects will reopen fish passage, create stream habitat complexity, and restore stream channel form and function.
Fivemile-Bell restoration project.
Stream channel restoration and reconnection is an important part of coastal restoration. This type of project restores streams that have been straightened, channelized, dredged, or disconnected from historic side channels and oxbows. Methods for restoring natural stream process may include:
- Returning the stream channel to a more natural meander with the addition of natural structures, such as boulders or large wood
- Reconnecting historic side channels, oxbows, and floodplains by removing barriers to the historic connections such as levees
Fivemile-Bell project pre-restoration.
In the Siuslaw watershed, the Fivemile-Bell stream restoration project was implemented with support from the Siuslaw Watershed Council and many partners.
Coos
In the Coos watershed, the Coos Watershed Association and partners will restore tidal connections and reopen rivers to fish passage.
Migratory fish like coho may be disconnected from many miles of habitat due to barriers such as tide gates, dams, culverts, and other structures. Fish passage projects remove, replace, or modify these barriers to reopen habitat to access by fish.
In the Coos watershed the Williams Falls project is being implemented by the Coos Watershed Association and partners.
Elk
In the Elk watershed, restoration projects are adding stream habitat complexity, restoring riparian habitat, reopening fish passage, and reconnecting rivers to their floodplains.
Stream complexity restoration in the Elk Creek watershed.
Floodplain reconnection projects reconnect rivers and streams to their historical floodplains, and create seasonal habitat for fish like coho.
Floodplain reconnection in the Elk Creek watershed.
Upper Rogue
In the Upper Rogue watershed, partners are reopening fish passage and adding stream habitat complexity.
A fish passage project in the Upper Rogue watershed.
Increased habitat complexity often means slower-moving water with more pools. This provides refuge areas for salmon to rest, feed, and spawn.
Salt Creek pre-restoration
The Applegate Watershed Partnership has increased habitat complexity in West Evans Creek in the Upper Rogue watershed.
West Fork Evans habitat complexity project.
West Evans Large wood project. Clip provided by Wild Samon Center
West Fork Evans Creek - Juvenile Salmon Footage
Photo credit: Brian Kelley
Future Outlook
By the end of 2023, the Oregon Coast Coho Partnership will have completed the following habitat restoration work (and we hope that this is just the beginning!):
- 30 projects implemented
- 400 acres of wetland and stream habitat restored
- 30 miles of streams reopened
- 60 beaver dam analogs constructed
- 400 acres of riparian habitat improved
When all of this work is complete, we expect to have watersheds with restored ecological function and process as well as more connected and resilient communities. Though it is too soon to show the full impact of the habitat restoration projects to coho populations, early results (see video below) are already showing instances of juvenile coho rearing in the restored habitat. By setting priorities for habitat restoration work into the future, the Oregon Coast Coho Parternship has supported the continued success of restoration and ongoing recovery of threatened coho.
South Fork Little Butte - Juvenile Salmon
Partnerships
These efforts to restore coho would not have been possible without numerous partners.
