Wind, fire, floods . . . the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife finds a silver lining in everything nature can throw at the state.
Especially trees.
The agency, with help from the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State Parks and a $28,750 grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, is collecting as many 20-inch (diameter) trees as possible from a veritable forest that blew down along the central Oregon Coast during December windstorms.
Downed trees 40 to 50 feet long are destined to be placed in several streams to provide rearing habitat for small salmon and steelhead, capture gravel and create side channels for both juvenile and adult fish.
Four log-truckloads of conifer logs have been collected so far, and as many as 10 more might be collected from the December windfall.
Jason Kirchner, a department fish habitat biologist, said he has planned seven to 10 projects next summer to improve 12 to 15 miles of streams. He'll use 10 to 200 logs per project.
"The Douglas fir, hemlock, and spruce trees we have collected will last for decades," he said.
Over in LaPine, the department and Forest Service are collecting about 200 conifer logs -- roots attached -- killed in a 2005 fire at LaPine State Park.
The Watershed Enhancement Board is also funding the salvage with a grant of $7,700.
For two weeks, workers have been setting trees in the upper Deschutes River to stabilize eroding shorelines, create habitat and capture spawning gravel for trout.The Oregonian
