The North Umpqua Foundation provides five program areas for citizens to assist in protection and restoration of the North Umpqua River . The program areas are:

• Restoration
• Enforcement
• River Protection
• Education
• Monitoring

Restoration

Background – The Umpqua National Forest and the Umpqua Basin Watershed Council, have rated Steamboat Creek as having the highest priority for restoration within the North Umpqua River basin. Steamboat Creek, which is 145,000 acres in size, provides vital spawning and rearing habitat for wild summer steelhead, winter steelhead, sea-run cutthroat trout, Coho salmon and spring Chinook. Its lands form the largest contiguous block of Late Successional Reserve, which is a designation for key watersheds that are to be managed under the Northwest Forest Plan to achieve old-growth characteristics to benefit fish and wildlife.

While much of the Steamboat Creek watershed is in good condition, considerable restoration is required to meet its full potential. For years, the Umpqua National Forest has been working at this systematically, focusing efforts in priority sub-watersheds of Steamboat Creek in an effort to complete the full spectrum of projects necessary to restore that entire sub-watershed.

Unfortunately, with today’s federal budget issues, funds to continue the work have all but dried up. That is why it is so crucial now for The North Umpqua Foundation, and those who care about the river and its fish, to step up and help with the funding. Together, we must demonstrate that restoration of Steamboat Creek is a top priority.

The Foundation’s Restoration Goal – On the North Umpqua River, and on its key tributaries, The North Umpqua Foundation will work to restore the ecological values to historic levels and create a better place for wild fish and their supporting river and upland ecosystems.

Objective - In a time when the Forest Service has shifted its focus to fire salvage operations across the West, the Foundation will seek opportunities to help the North Umpqua Ranger District to move forward on four to six restoration projects on key watersheds and help secure the resources necessary to get the work done in a timely and effective manner.

Accomplishments

• In 2005, the Foundation raised $27,000 to match Forest Service funding, doubling the amount of restoration work that could be accomplished in the Steamboat Creek basin during the year. As a result two projects were completed, one in the Little Rock Creek basin the other in the Reynolds Creek basin.

- Little Rock Creek is ranked as one of the highest priority sub-watersheds of its size within Steamboat watershed for restoration. Little Rock Creek enters Steamboat Creek five miles above Big Bend Pool. The Forest Service has worked in this basin for several years, with The North Umpqua Foundation as a partner, removing undersized and fish-blocking culverts, adding large woody debris and decommissioning unneeded roads to eliminate erosion and catastrophic landslide potential.

The 2005 Little Rock Creek restoration project allowed the Forest Service to complete its restoration work for the entire Little Rock Creek basin . The project involved decommissioning just over a half mile of road along a fish-bearing tributary of Little Rock Creek. This included pulling three stream crossings that had undersized culverts. These crossings were destined to fail thereby generating many yards of sediment to one of the stronghold streams in the Steamboat watershed for summer and winter steelhead spawning. The project also improves habitat for coastal cutthroat and resident cutthroat.

To get the work done, the Umpqua National Forest employed a local contractor who expertly used materials from the road decommissioning to recontour the inboard ditch line. At stream crossings, the banks and stream gradients were restored to mimic surrounding natural conditions.

- Within the Reynolds Creek basin, 1.2 miles of road were decommissioned in 2005 to create hydrologic connectivity, providing habitat for summer and winter steelhead, coastal cutthroat trout, as well as resident cutthroat and rainbow trout. The work involved removal of one “log stringer bridge,” also known as a Humboldt Crossing. As in many cases with legacy roads, where the roads crossed watercourses the channels were often just filled with woody debris and soil to create a “Humboldt Crossing.” Such crossings that remain today are up to 50 years in age and are in varying levels of collapse. They are a chronic source of sediment input into watercourses. The Humboldt Crossing addressed in this Reynolds Creek restoration project was contributing sediment to a perennial fish-bearing stream from the fill on top of the crossing, which was several feet deep. Once removed, the logs from the crossing were used to create in-stream habitat structure in Reynolds Creek.

Also in the Reynolds Creek basin, another perennial stream crossing was addressed where the stream had exited its banks during a high-flow event and was channeling down a closed road then dumping back into the original stream channel downstream. The stream was creating large gullies in the road bed and was a direct contributor of fine sediment to downstream steelhead habitat. The stream crossing was reconfigured and the road decommissioned. Finally, a small spur road that was severely eroding was decommissioned to allow for hydrological connectivity.

• In 2000, TNUF attracted a $100,000 grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) to help airlift 550 logs into Little Rock Creek to increase in-stream structure for eight miles of fish spawning habitat, now being used by wild steelhead and cutthroat trout.

• In 2001, TNUF received a $93,000 grant from OWEB to restore three miles of spawning habitat on Horseheaven Creek by placing 270 large logs, collected from forest roads after a blow down event, into the creek by helicopter. The spawning habitat is now being used by wild steelhead and cutthroat trout.

• In 2000, TNUF attracted a $75,000 contribution from an anonymous donor to be used to promote road decommissioning in key North Umpqua tributaries and to attract additional matching funds.

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Enforcement

Background - Each year, approximately 500 wild steelhead hold in Big Bend Pool on Steamboat Creek, arriving in May and staying in the pool until they can move upstream to spawn, as late as December, depending on rains. Wild steelhead runs on the North Umpqua River range from 2,000 to 4,000 fish. Those holding in Big Bend Pool, alone, can account for 12 to 25 percent of the total run, and over 30 percent of the run that returns to Steamboat Creek. Though this pool is in a remote location, it is quite accessible and vulnerable to poachers, lying adjacent to Forest Service Road 38, which receives high recreation traffic during the summer and fall. The fish are clearly visible to anyone who stops at the location. Tributaries of the North Umpqua River are closed to all angling, yet there is a troubling history of dynamiting, snagging and other illegal take of fish at this pool, as well as at the many other pools along Steamboat Creek.

The North Umpqua Foundation’s Enforcement Goal - Help assure that laws established to protect wild salmonids are effectively enforced on the North Umpqua River, understood and heeded by the public, and that violators are adequately prosecuted.

Objective 1: Continue the FishWatch project to coordinate and improve the salmonid protection efforts of agencies, and use the project as an opportunity to involve two new partners each year and educate members of the public, creating follow up opportunities for at least 200 pool visitors.

Strategies

• Provide a guardian at Big Bend Pool each year from May through December to help deter poaching of hundreds of adult wild steelhead that are vulnerable while they hold there awaiting the fall rains.

• Host a meeting in April or May of each year for FishWatch partners to promote coordination, involve two new partners each year, address funding and staffing needs and identify opportunities and potential challenges of the upcoming season.

• Support efforts of the Fish Watch guardian to keep a natural history journal while observing steelhead behavior and other occurrences at Big Bend Pool, and provide sufficient funding for the guardian to transcribe those notes during the winter season after fish have moved out of the pool.

• Work with Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife officers to provide training sessions each summer for 50 to 100 field staff of land management and regulatory agencies, asking for field staff assistance in spotting and reporting poaching suspects.

Objective 2: Establish a system for volunteers to advocate for adequate prosecution of crimes committed in Douglas County that involve illegal take or harassment of wild salmonids on the North Umpqua River.

Strategies

• Work with Oregon State Police and the Douglas County District Attorney's office and other interest groups to create a system for receiving notice of key case involving illegal take of wild salmonids.

• Identify, train and involve ten volunteers who are interested in protecting fish and wildlife to participate as “Fish & Wildlife Advocates” who work to track Douglas County Court cases involving illegal take of fish and wildlife, and advocate for adequate prosecution of those crimes.

Accomplishments

• In 2005, the North Umpqua Foundation raised $20,000 to purchase monitoring equipment now in use by Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife officers. The high-tech equipment improves the ability of the OSP to catch and successfully prosecute poachers who target the North Umpqua River and its tributaries. The North Umpqua Foundation received a $10,000 grant from the National Forest Foundation and raised $10,000 in matching funds with contributions from the Steamboaters, the Flyfisher Federation, the Wild Salmon Center, Oregon Hunters Association and individual donors.

• In 2005, the North Umpqua Foundation provided presentations for the Douglas Timber Operators and the Umpqua Basin Watershed Council. The goal was to inform these community groups about the problem of illegal take of fish and to solicit their help, as eyes and ears in the woods, to report poaching suspects.

• In 2005, and for the prior six years, TNUF has helped to eliminate illegal take, including dynamiting and snagging, of wild steelhead at the Big Bend Pool site by posting a fish guardian at the site from May to December.

• The Foundation was awarded funding by the Rogue-Umpqua RAC (Resource Advisory Council) to support the Fish Watch program during FY2004, FY2005 and FY2006.

• In 2005, and for the prior six years, TNUF has hosted an annual FishWatch partners meetings to coordinate enforcement and protection efforts between Oregon State Police, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Services and NOAA Fisheries.

• TNUF has produced and continues to distribute thousands of full-color brochures about the FishWatch program and highlights the life cycles of wild steelhead and spring Chinook.

• TNUF has assisted Oregon State Police in training of over 100 agency field staff, including seasonal fire fighters and timber workers, in an effort to increase the numbers of “eyes and ears” in the woods to help report poaching suspects. TNUF has developed and distributed a wallet-sized card with information about how and where to report poaching suspects.

• In 2004, TNUF upgraded its housing for the FishWatch guardian at Big Bend Pool by purchasing a classic Air Stream Trailer. The Foundation also completed construction of an over-winter shelter to protect the new trailer while not in use. The shelter has been erected at a Forest Service maintenance facility located along the North Umpqua River .

• Each year, TNUF's fish guardian informs over 1,200 visitors to Big Bend Pool about the need to protect wild fish and habitat.

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River Protection

Background - The Umpqua River is a large watershed with a diverse species assemblage and relatively healthy stocks of anadromous fish, largely because no dams block passage or alter habitat along the main Umpqua River or for 70 miles up the North Umpqua River . But there are eight headwater dams and miles of canals located in the high Cascades.

The lowest dam on the system, Soda Springs Dam, blocks access to miles of excellent high-country spawning habitat on the river and on aptly-named Fish Creek, a tributary to the North Umpqua River. In 1998, shortly after the federal process was initiated to relicense PacifiCorp's North Umpqua hydropower project, a team of government and independent scientists, hired by PacifiCorp, considered alterations to the project and concluded that the best solution for restoration of the wild river would be removal of Soda Springs Dam.

In December 2003, The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a new license that did not include removal of Soda Springs Dam. In 2004, The North Umpqua Foundation joined with a coalition of eight conservation groups who have been involved in the relicensing process for many years, to challenge the FERC's license with the assistance of EarthJustice. On August 3, 2005, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided against the conservationists’ challenge. Though the decision was disappointing, the North Umpqua Foundation is committed to working creatively and persistently in other policy arenas for improvements to the hydropower operations to reduce its impact on the wild North Umpqua River.

Goal – Work for changes to the North Umpqua Hydropower Project, especially removal of Soda Springs Dam, that will result in the greatest ecological improvements for the North Umpqua River.

Objective 1: Improve the newly-issued FERC license to bring additional benefits to the river.

Strategies

• Support EarthJustice's legal challenge to the license, in an effort to obtain the best possible license results for the river.

• Build a broader national and international base of support for changes to the license that would benefit the river.

Objective 2: Prioritize key changes to hydropower operation required under the new license and settlement agreement and monitor to assure timely implementation and effectiveness improving ecological conditions on the river.

Strategies

• Work collaboratively to identify and track license implementation projects and report on those projects to the community.

• Participate in quarterly interagency Resource Coordinating Committee (RCC) meetings to have a better understanding of license implementation progress and the concerns of agencies responsible for oversight of implementation.

• Improve our Stranding Watch project to attract additional volunteers to help monitor flow changes that result from hydropower operations that are outside the license limits. Make improvements to the USGS flow monitoring system to make it more user friendly and expand the workshop to include more hands-on training opportunities and better follow up after the workshop. Workshop Info.

Accomplishments

• 2005 – TNUF received a grant for $13,667 from the Hydropower Reform Coalition to develop a web-based tool that uses “push” technology to automatically send an e-mail alert, or cell phone text message, to key agency officials and, PacifiCorp hydropower operators to notify them when there is an in-stream flow or ramping “event” on the river that is outside of the allowable parameters defined in the North Umpqua Hydropower Project.

What this means is that, flow gages currently installed along the banks of the North Umpqua River, both above and below the dams, can report in near-real-time, through satellite and phone links with the internet, when there is a flow change that could be caused by hydropower operations (or other events) and could have an impact on the health of the river. Funding for the project was also received from the Umpqua National Forest and the PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning.

Use of the “push” technology to automatically send e-mail alerts will improve the effectiveness of the agencies responsible for monitoring the North Umpqua Hydropower Project. If agencies and PacifiCorp are notified sooner with an e-mail alert, it may be possible to address the problem quickly so that it doesn’t become worse and to conduct a more accurate assessment of the damage caused by de-watered spawning redds or stranding juvenile fish.

The good news is that the new license for the North Umpqua Hydropower Project does not allow ramping (increasing and decreasing flows to maximize power production) on the Wild and Scenic strech of the North Umpqua River below the Soda Springs Dam. Also good news is that PacifiCorp has a fine team of fisheries and hydropower operations professionals doing their best to mimic natural flows on the river and to protect the resources. But so long as dams remain on the North Umpqua, there will be equipment failures, operation errors and natural events that lead to flow problems that impact the river.

Such an equipment failure occurred on July 11th, 2004. At about 6:30 p.m. on that Sunday evening there were four sequential problems that resulted in flows dropping from 904 cfs to 338 cfs over the course of an hour. First, the Soda Springs Powerhouse shut down. Then the by-pass valve malfunctioned. Then the alarm system failed, and finally, the operator did not immediately recognize the problem. Once the problem was identified, flows were raised to 1000 cfs then reduced to 904 to 910 cfs within 5.5 hours. PacifiCorp notified agencies and The North Umpqua Foundation of the event at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning, July 14th. By the time agency staff were able to get out on the river, the extreme high and low flows, which resulted in a foot and a half stage change at places on the river, had already impacted the upper part of the Wild and Scenic stretch of the river and had returned to base flows, making it difficult to asses the damage to juvenile fish and other aquatic life. The result of this event was a $250,000 fish kill.

2000-2004 -- Through review, commenting, and participating with a coalition of conservation groups, TNUF was able to help effect dozens of changes to the new hydropower license that will improve the river. Those improvements include better monitoring requirements, better terrestrial crossings on the canals and improved flows to lessen the impacts on juvenile fish and other water-dependent creatures.

• 2003, 2004 -- TNUF hosted two annual hydropower strategy session attended by staff, directors and members representing nine conservation organizations. The outcome included identifying “next steps” to take as a coalition.

• TNUF has established the Stranding Watch project to monitor how flow changes, caused by hydropower production negatively impact juvenile fish populations. The goal of the project is to train volunteers to help monitor daily water flow changes to make sure PacifiCorp stays within the allowable range of their license. If the company “ramps” the water up and down too quickly during a day, thousands of juvenile fish can become stranded in pools along the rivers edge and then die due to high water temperatures or predation. For the third year, largely due to this project, there have been no significant ramping events on the river.

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Education

Background – Since 1993, Oregon Trout's award-winning Salmon Watch education program has reached thousands of students, hundreds of teachers, and involved thousands of volunteers in Oregon, but had yet to be adopted for use within the Umpqua River basin. In the fall of 2003, that changed.

TNUF partnered with Oregon Trout to offer the first Salmon Watch Field trip on the Umpqua . The field trip was a success and both Oregon Trout and The North Umpqua Foundation made a commitment to expand the use of the Salmon Watch program within the Umpqua River basin. The program draws upon natural resource experts and volunteers to assist teams of students at four learning stations established on the river’s edge. At the stations, children are involved in hands-on learning about Riparian Areas, Macro-invertebrates, Water Quality and the Salmon Life Cycle. Students have an opportunity to take their knowledge back to the classroom and develop a service learning project to benefit the community and the river.

Goal - Establish a year-round, student-to-career educational program to increase the understanding of the ecological, recreational, cultural and community values and benefits to be derived from a healthy  North Umpqua River.

Objective 1: Work in partnership with Oregon Trout to use the SalmonWatch program as the basis for an educational curriculum to annually reach 300 school age children living in the Umpqua River basin.

Strategies

• Expand the SalmonWatch program on the North Umpqua River basin by seeking funding for a part-time trainer who is dedicated to working with teachers and volunteers on the North Umpqua River.

• Develop a strategic educational plan for the Foundation that offers year-round opportunities for learning, including an essay contest and classroom visits during the winter, a summer activity on the river, and Salmon Watch field trips to spawning sites in the fall.

Objective 2: Incorporate adult learning opportunities into TNUF's education program.

Strategies

• Offer hikes and interpretive talks on “Anatomy of a River,” (river ecology and natural history) for visitors to Steamboat Inn and the North Umpqua River bi-weekly throughout the summer.

• Incorporate a field trip, guest speaker or other learning opportunities into each regular meeting of TNUF's board of directors. Suggestions for guest speakers include: Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to report on the steelhead radio-tagging results, Rich Grost from PacifiCorp to report on the hydropower project.

Objective 3: Award at least one scholarship annually from TNUF's scholarship fund to support students committed to academic studies leading to careers in fisheries, fish biology, river ecology, river morphology & restoration, river hydrology or closely related fields with an emphasis on applicants residing in local communities and with a long-term interest in the North Umpqua River. Scholarship application information.

Strategies

• Promote the scholarship opportunity through Umpqua Community College and at least three other Oregon colleges and universities.

• Work with financial aid officers at educational institutions to award first scholarship in 2004.  

• Provide an opportunity for the board to meet the scholarship recipients each year.

Accomplishments

• November 2005 - The Salmon Watch field trips are done! All the field trips went off without a hitch (thank goodness) – all the kids were safe and well behaved. Remarkably, the weather held up and all the field trips included some Oregon “sun breaks,” even some days of full-on sun, except the last one, where it pretty much rained the whole time. That final trip was for the Glide High School natural resources students, and there was absolutely no complaining! In fact, that was one of the most engaging group of kids (well, maybe they tied for “most engaging” with the home-schoolers).

In summary, TNUF provided seven field trips, reached 149 students, involved 11 teachers (including six home school teachers) and organized assistance from 12 volunteers (including three volunteers who helped on two field trips each).

We held the field trips in three locations, starting on the North Umpqua at the Boulder Creek Campground to view spring Chinook, then moving to a nice gravel bar on Cow Creek, a tributary of the South Umpqua, to view fall Chinook as the numbers of spring Chinook became diminished on the North Umpqua. When PacifiCorp fish biologist Rich Grost volunteered, we made one field trip to Soda Springs Bypass reach where there were still good numbers of spring Chinook below the dam at the gravel augmentation site. The location gave us all a chance to discuss both the benefits and environmental costs of hydropower production.

Students were from five Roseburg High School science classes, the South County home school organization and from Glide High School. Teachers who participated from RHS included Randy Chase, Nicole Redinius, Karen Van Sickle and Peter Lindstrom. Ben Kercher, Glide High School’s natural resources teacher involved his students, and seven home school parents, Janet Husen, Janet Hallman, Linda Koontz, Angela Gordon, Robin Henrikson, Terri Burkhert, and Angela Reid brought their students.

Our volunteers were: Jeff Dose and Todd Buchholz of the fisheries department of the Umpqua National Forest; Sharon Frazey and Cory Sipher of the fisheries department at Roseburg BLM; Craig Tuss of the Roseburg office of US Fish & Wildlife Service; Peter DeLuca of TNUF; Jim Long, a director for the Alder Creek Children’s Fund and retired county extension agent; Dr. Lenny Schussel, a chemist who just finished a term as president of the Umpqua Basin Watershed Council; John Amoroso, new realtor and a former regional director for National Wildlife Federation; Chris Sheely of the Roseburg office of Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife; and Rich Grost, fish biologist for PacifiCorp.

Other volunteers helped to make the field trips happen. Janet Husing, (her husband recently provided musical entertainment at the Steamboat Inn fund-raising dinner), coordinated the field trip for the South County home schoolers. Jim Muck, of ODFW, and Scott Lightcap, of BLM, helped rally field trip volunteers from their respective fisheries staffs.

• In 2005 – Awarded three scholarships to graduate students working on river ecology and fisheries management projects.

• In 2004 – Awarded two scholarships to graduate students working on river ecology and fisheries management projects.

• In 2004, The North Umpqua Foundation hosted six Salmon Watch field trips involving Roseburg High School science classes and home school students from southern Douglas County.

• In 2003, kicked off the SalmonWatch education project in Douglas County, by offering a field trip for 4 th graders, in partnership with Oregon Trout and a community teacher.

• Received a “Loren Irving” print that was auctioned at the annual Oregon Trout auction to raise funds and increase Oregon Trout support for expansion of the SalmonWatch project on the Umpqua River .

• Established a scholarship fund totaling over $17,000 to support students studying fish or river ecology and management, and have established a system for receiving applications through recommendations from area colleges and universities. First scholarship award(s) are expected in fall 2004.

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Monitoring

Background – Changes, both beneficial and deleterious, are bound to come to the North Umpqua River , and it will be vital to know how those changes affect the ecological resources of the river. As the new hydropower license is implemented, as timber harvest occurs, as fishing regulations change, as recreational use increases, as restoration projects are implemented there will be resultant changes to flows, fish passage, water quality and other ecological components in the watershed. Tracking these changes involves a commitment to monitoring and to reporting results in a way that will be helpful to managers and the public.

Goal - Promote and assist with inventory and monitoring efforts to establish a baseline or add to the information known about ecological components of the North Umpqua River system.

Objective 1: Look for opportunities to involve at Foundation volunteers in monitoring efforts that will assist scientists and resource managers in protecting key watershed resources, while increasing the volunteer commitment to protecting the river.

Strategies

• Provide Foundation volunteers the opportunity to assist Roseburg BLM in its yellow-legged frog survey.

• Work with Oregon Dept of Fish and Wildlife field staff to have Foundation volunteers help identify locations of lamprey redds.

• Revitalize the caddis fly monitoring project seeking Forest Service funding and support and involvement of research biologist Robert Wiessman, and work to expand it to one additional site and support it with volunteers, reporting results on TNUF's website.

• Identify five priority monitoring projects that warrant Foundation involvement because information gathered will make the most difference over the long run.

Accomplishments

• TNUF volunteers have helped conduct amphibian counts prior to restoration project implementation on Horseheaven and Little Rock Creeks.

• In partnership with Roseburg BLM, TNUF conducted a preliminary inventory of foothills yellow-legged frogs along the river and tributaries of the North Umpqua. The results of this preliminary inventory, in partnership with Roseburg BLM, have lead to a national interest to fund and expand the inventory west wide.

• Established a bio-monitoring site at Steamboat Inn, to collect, identify and record information about any of the 50 or more caddisfly species that could be found on the North Umpqua River. Because each species occupies a certain niche of the river environment, discerning which species assemblage is present provides an indication of the status of particular environments on the river.

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For information on how you can help preserve this wonderful river please email us or write to:
The North Umpqua Foundation
P.O. Box 238
Idleyld Park, OR 97447-0238