About the Project
Jack Creek, a tributary to the North Fork Teanaway River in the Upper Yakima basin, supports salmon (spring Chinook), steelhead and resident rainbow and cutthroat trout.
In 2011 and 2012, Mid-Columbia Fisheries implemented a project to restore and protect Jack Creek. As part of the project, the Forest Service relocated a mile of road away from the streambank. Downstream, 1,200 feet of Jack Creek was re-routed into a historic, and shaded stream channel. The channel and floodplain were planted with 4,300 native trees and shrubs, and more than 550 pieces of wood were added as part of the project. The area was fenced to protect the stream from grazing.
The area has since become part of the Teanaway Community Forest. Stream protection fences have been installed throughout the community forest. Mid-Columbia Fisheries and the Department of Natural Resources have worked hard on annual fence maintenance, required by the heavy snowpack in the area.
Background
Jack Creek and its contributing watershed have been subject to historic railroad logging, road building, farming and cattle grazing that have combined over many decades to degrade the channel and floodplain. Prior to restoration, the contemporary channel was entrenched or incised into what was once a much wider and wetter valley bottom with intermittent stringer meadow habitats.
Project Goals
The goals of this project were to:
- slow streambank erosion
- restore floodplain function
- improve complex rearing habitat using imported large wood material
- enhance spawning habitat in two miles of Jack Creek.
Project Area and Designs
The Jack Creek Restoration Project restored streambank condition, floodplain function, and spawning and rearing habitat for steelhead, Chinook, interior redband and westslope cutthroat.
Restoration actions focused on restoring stream processes in Jack Creek by adding large wood to the stream, revegetating the stream banks and floodplain, relocating nearly one mile of road, and restoring floodplain function in the footprint of the old road.
The project is located in the lowest two miles of Jack Creek, above its confluence with the North Fork Teanaway River at RM 5.9.
Restoration
Restoration at Jack Creek was completed in summer 2012.
Reach 1 project objectives included reducing channel incision and enhancing shallow groundwater storage. Approximately 850 feet of an old stream channel (the channel abandoned in the early 1990s) was re-graded so that it will become the primary channel in summer months. This channel includes more mature riparian cover in the upper section. Floodplain roughness and complexity was achieved by planting 600 native trees and shrubs across much of the 20 acres that encompass most of the historic stream traces. Large wood was also added to the old stream channel. As the stream avulses in the future, it will encounter live and downed trees throughout the floodplain.
Reach 2 project work consisted of relocating an existing 0.9 miles of Forest Service Road #9738 out of the valley bottom. Relocating this section of the road improves hydrologic connection through the former road prism that feeds existing valley bottom wetland areas, reduces long-term road related sediment, reduces or eliminates off road vehicle soil disturbance and improves riparian and habitat conditions where the road is immediately adjacent to Jack Creek. Log jams were also installed in areas of Jack Creek that had no woody riparian vegetation or lateral roughness to slow erosion rates.
Mid-Columbia Fisheries and the Department of Natural Resources continue to provide stewardship for this project. These organizations provide annual maintenance to the cattle exclusion fencing, which is required due to the heavy annual snowpack experienced in the area.