|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rogue Flyfishers Association awards state reclamationist with 'Golden Demon conservation honor (PDF) More on the Rogue River Project from the Medford Mail Trubune October 10, 2003 By MARK FREEMAN, Medford Mail Tribune, used with permission Neil Selbicky is helping push the upper Rogue River back to its rightful place, one little pine tree at a time. So are Eric Smith, Travis Dicher and about 20 other back-bending volunteers in the midst of a massive tree-planting project that is the latest piece of a $1.3 million effort to restore a reach of the upper Rogue damaged by the 1997 flood. Volunteers this week are planting more than 3,000 pines, willows and other trees to stabilize a 75-foot berm that stands as the last bastion between the Rogue and a new path through a series of old gravel pits. If the berm gives way, then the Rogue will redirect through the pits and away from its historic channel, damaging private lands and ruining more than a mile of key salmon-rearing habitat at the base of Lower Table Rock. "The river would cause a lot of havoc if it goes through that berm," says Selbicky, a Talent-based fishing guide. "Clearly, this is a worthwhile project." This week’s planting, and a similar one scheduled for next summer, are the last phases of the three-year project funded by state and federal agencies as well as local businesses and sport- fishing groups. Geologists have installed large boulder bars to push water away from the berm, and crews even cleared gravel from the old channel in hopes that the river will turn away from the pits and back down its original channel past Salmon Rock and toward Gold Ray Dam. These trees do more than spruce up the view. Their roots strengthen the soil’s ability to withstand pounding from winter high water, says E. Frank Schnitzer, a state geologist overseeing the project. When the vegetation gets dense, it slows the speed of flooding water, thereby reducing erosion, Schnitzer says. And, over time, they will create a lush river bank with insects falling from the willows into the Rogue. "These trees," Schnitzer says, "will produce food for the river." The Rogue historically flows north of a series of large gravel pits that once produced the rock that created much of Interstate 5 and other Medford-area roads. The pits, which were flooded, were separated from the Rogue by a large berm. Then a December 1996 flood punctured the berm, sending the Rogue gushing into an old Oregon Department of Transportation pond and away from the normal channel through a popular fishing hole called Salmon Rock. Water also breached a downstream berm and flowed back into the main channel below Salmon Rock. A week later, the New Year’s flood of 1997 eroded the entire 250-foot berm, sending half the Rogue flows through the pond and the rest on their regular path. Now, one gravel pit that once was a quarter-mile away from the Rogue has just a 75-foot-deep berm standing between it and the river. People concerned with the situation formed the Rogue Stakeholders Group, leading to grants and a design for the repair work. Since repair work began last year, the Rogue appears to be responding, says Chris Lindstone, who designed the project. "The project behaved beautifully in last year’s (high-flow) event," said Lindstone, who flew in from Colorado to help plant trees. "We had many, many nay-sayers who said it couldn’t be done. It’s good to see it built and functioning." Volunteers on Thursday used shovels, gas augers and even backhoes to plant and water the trees placed systematically along the berm like other, undisturbed stretches nearby. "We were expecting to put a tree into the ground and push some dirt on it," said Travis Dicher, one of 10 Crater High School students helping out Thursday. "It was a lot more work than that." But it was much more than just work for Crater junior Eric Smith, who said the project breathes life into classroom concepts. "It’s fun, and it’s a chance to actually see something that we’re studying about," said Smith. The project, which includes about $267,000 in state money tapped for salmon habitat improvements, also represents a textbook example of how the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds can draw agencies and the public together for improving fish habitat, said Meghan Collins of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "All these people came together to work on stabilizing and improving that stretch of the Rogue, and that will benefit salmon," Collins said. For more information, call David Haight at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, 541-826-8774, or state geologist E. Frank Schnitzer at 541-619-4651. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 Chris Lidstone plants a dogwood on a bank near the Rogue River once washed out in the flood of 1997. Behind him, Gary Lynch and Ben Mundie dig holes for other trees.Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries
Fossils, Minerals & Gems | Hazards | Field Offices | News and Events
Mineral Land Regulation and Reclamation | Oil, Gas and Geothermal
Nature of the Northwest Information Center | State of Oregon website
Job listings from the State of Oregon jobs page
800 NE Oregon Street #28, Suite 965, Portland, OR 97232-2162
(971) 673-1555, FAX (971) 673-1562
email us at DOGAMI
Your best source for outdoor recreation and natural resource information, plus the largest selection of maps in the Northwest.