Vinegar to Vincent Fish Habitat Improvement Project
This Project has an Update in progress.
Project Overview
Basics
Vinegar to Vincent Fish Habitat Improvement Project
Implementation
The Vinegar to Vincent Fish Habitat Improvement project is located on the Middle Fork John Day River (MFJDR). Prior land management activities and the installation of the railroad grade have resulted in a straightened and incised channel with limited floodplain interaction. Coupled with a degraded riparian corridor, temperatures have significantly increased throughout the basin, verging on the upper thermal tolerances of salmonids. This project will address these legacy effects through the addition of habitat complexity, extensive planting, and removal of the historic railroad grade, improving instream conditions for all native aquatic species.
2018
2020
2022
8/30/2024
Project Attributes
Additional Project Attributes
FIP Status
None
Restoration Actions
14. Alcove, 17. Riparian Fencing, 2. Channel Reconstruction, 28. LWD Placement, 3. Pool Development, 4. Riffle Construction, 5. Meander (Oxbow) Re-connect - Reconstruction, 7. Levee Modification: Removal, Setback, Breach, 9. Restoration of Floodplain Topography and Vegetation
For Land Acquisition and Easement Projects
Project Type
None
Location
Organizations
Contacts
Metrics
Expected Metrics
| Number of plantings | 30,000 | |
| Floodplain habitat protected | 103 acres | |
| Number of pools created | 50 | |
| Number of riffles created | 22 | |
| Number of structures installed | Anchored: Unanchored Location: Floodplain Type of Structure: LWD | 50 |
| Number of structures installed | Anchored: Anchored Location: Instream Type of Structure: LWD | 400 |
| Number of structures installed | Anchored: Unanchored Location: Instream Type of Structure: LWD | 200 |
| Stream miles treated | Treatment Type: instream restoration | 2 linear stream miles |
| Stream miles treated | Treatment Type: fencing | 2 linear stream miles |
| Stream miles treated | Treatment Type: off/side channel habitat created | 0.5 linear stream miles |
| Stream miles treated | Treatment Type: riparian planting | 2 linear stream miles |
Reported Metrics
No annual Metric accomplishments entered for this Project.
| No accomplishments to report for: | |
| Year(s): | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Explanation: | Implementation Fall 2020 |
Financials
Budget
| Comment: | Updated to reflect current funding sources. |
|---|
Reported Expenditures
No Expenditures have been reported for this Project.
| Note: | The project currently has no expenditures, but there will be as soon as the 2020 work is contracted. |
|---|
Focal Species
Focal Species
This project area serves as a migratory pathway and juvenile rearing habitat ESA-listed mid-Columbia steelhead.
This project area serves as spawning and juvenile rearing habitat for mid-Columbia spring Chinook.
Implementation and Ecological Results
Implementation and Ecological Results
Along this project area, the railroad grade will be removed, reconnecting the river to its former floodplain. The currently incised Middle Fork channel will also be relocated into a more multi-threaded channel, with one primary channel and various side channels. This will allow more inundation throughout the floodplain and recharge groundwater sources.
This project will be supplemented with a large-scale planting effort to improve not only the quantity of riparian vegetation along this reach, but also diversity.
Large wood structures will be installed within the channel and throughout the floodplain, providing habitat and cover for both juvenile and adult salmonids.
By improving floodplain connection and thereby recharging groundwater, this project will provide and preserve cool upwellings, decreasing instream temperatures. Plantings will also provide shade throughout the project area.
The large-scale planting effort that will occur following instream work will install plantings of various sizes to provide immediate shade and cover.
Currently, this section of the Middle Fork is characterized by little habitat variation. This project will create pools and riffle to provide quality spawning and rearing habitat for Chinook and steelhead.
Working Groups
Working Groups
No Working Groups set for this Project.
LJDWG - Critical Issues
LJDWG - Critical Issues
No LJDWG - Critical Issues set for this Project.
Project Details
Attachments
No attachments
No attachments
No attachments
No attachments
Notes
| 11/12/2020 8:41 AM | Carmen Leguizamon | Phase 1 was completed in the fall of 2020, spanning from early October to early November. Work in the first phase consisted of the construction of primary, secondary, and tertiary channels on the south side of the railroad grade that will be removed in phase 2. Other work included the filling of portions of the southern ditch (to be completed in the next phase), the addition of large wood, installation of the first round of willow trenches, as well as the creation of in-channel islands and high-flow side channels. Plantings and fencing will also be installed in the phase 1 project area, and are slated to be complete by early December. Phase 2 will be completed in 2022, and in the interim year of 2021 CTWS will be installing a series of additional willow trenches to aid in revegetation efforts and provide floodplain roughness. |
External Links
No External Links entered.