This contract will help implement the Long Tom Watershed Council's habitat restoration project to re-connect a 1.1-mile long segment of historic Willamette River channel near Peoria in Linn County, Oregon. The project will improve rearing habitat for juvenile Upper Willamette River spring Chinook salmon, Pacific lamprey, and coastal cutthroat trout and nine other Oregon Conservation Strategy species. Project partners include the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

The project is located at Willamette River mile 144 at Snag Boat Bend, a unit of William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge managed by USFWS. The installation of the Porter Spoil Embankment and Porter Right Bank revetment on the property in 1964 by USACE contractors as part of the Willamette Valley flood control project disconnected the river from off-channel habitat and disrupted fluvial processes by completely cutting off the upstream end of a 1.1 mile segment of historic mainstem Willamette River channel. A shorter channel was excavated to disconnect the historic 1.1 mile meander bend, requiring the excavation of 250,000 cubic yards of material, which was then used to create the Porter Spoil Embankment. This has increased fine sediment deposition, degraded water quality, and created ideal conditions for non-native aquatic weeds in 16 acres of perennial open water habitat. The proposed restoration project will implement a design developed by a previous OWEB-funded technical assistance project. We plan to remove a section of the Porter Embankment to reconnect the historic channel segment and restore fluvial processes. The notch to be removed will have a 60' flat bottom width, with gradual side slopes that approximately matches morphology of the historic channel.

The project has secured all permitting authorizations including the USACE section 408 approval, to ensure that the modifications to the embankment will all allow it to perform its congressionally authorized purpose. The previous technical assistance project developed hydraulic and hydrologic models and conceptual designs that have been used to acquire USACE 408 approval. NEPA ESA and section 106 approvals have been secured.

We will also install 6 log jams in the historic channel to improve habitat complexity for aquatic species. The goal of the log jams will be to improve habitat complexity in the historic Willamette River channel and in lower Lake Creek, which enters the historic channel just downstream of the Porter Spoil Embankment. All of the proposed sites are inundated year-round. Eight of the log jams will be installed downstream of the Porter Spoil Embankment in the historic channel that we are proposing to reconnect. One log jam will be installed upstream of the Porter Spoil Embankment where our proposed inlet channel meets the Willamette River alcove. The final two jams will be installed in lower Lake Creek. Log jams will be buried and ballasted in the bank or secured by weaving logs between existing, mature, riparian trees. Log purchase and install will occur with non-BPA funding.

Invasive plant removal and native plant installation events will be planned post-construction. Plant species will be reflective of restored hydrological patterns.