annual report deschutes watershed

Transcription

1 annual report 2010 u p p e r deschutes watershed c o u n c i l

2 letter from the president & executive director Dear Friends and Supporters, 2010 Board of Directors Tom Atkins J.T. Atkins and Company Eric Beck REALMS Herb Blank Central Oregon Flyfishers Jim Clinton Bend City Council Tom Davis Native Fish Society At the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, we believe that healthy rivers are the foundation of strong, vibrant communities. Clean water supports local economies, ecological diversity, recreation opportunities and unparalleled natural beauty throughout Central Oregon. During 2010, we focused on expanding our restoration efforts by developing large-scale habitat restoration projects, growing our youth education programs and refining our scientific monitoring programs. This year s annual report highlights some of our most significant accomplishments in these areas. As we move into 2011, we will continue working to achieve our long-term vision of sustaining healthy rivers and engaging local communities in watershed stewardship. Please join us in 2011 and beyond as we continue our efforts to protect and restore Central Oregon s world class rivers and streams. Michael Fisher V I C E P R E S I D E N T Central Oregon Community College Nancy Gilbert Wildlife Biologist Kyle Gorman Oregon Water Resources Department Steve Johnson Central Oregon Irrigation District Sarah Laufer Play Outdoors Sarahlee Lawrence Rainshadow Organics Chuck Newport S E C R E T A R Y T R E A S U R E R Construction Management Services, Inc. David Newton Newton Consultants, Inc. Joanne Richter Richter Environmental Consulting Dan Rife Deschutes National Forest Alan Unger Deschutes County Commission Ted Wise Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Rick Wright P R E S I D E N T Wright Design Studio Richard S. Wright P R E S I D E N T staff & interns Ryan Houston Executive Director E D U C A T I O N Kolleen Yake Education Coordinator Laura Campbell Education Assistant Ali Johnson Intern Ryan Houston E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R R E S T O R AT I O N & M O N I T O R I N G Mathias Perle Project Manager Lauren Mork Monitoring Coordinator Kristine Senkier Restoration Hydrologist Mike Logan Water Quality Technician Kiley Rucker Intern 2 b o a r d & s t a f f

3 Projects & Mission 1 The Watershed Council has worked on nearly 40 watershed enhancement projects since In 2010, the Watershed Council worked on planning, design, implementation and/or monitoring for the following projects: Metolius River Fish Habitat Enhancement Spring Creek Easement Restoration Lake Creek Lodge Restoration 4 Lake Creek Fish Passage and Screening (multiple sites) 5 Discovery Outpost Riparian Restoration 11 6 Camp Polk Meadow Restoration 12 7 City of Sisters / Whychus Creek Restoration Planning Whychus Creek Fish Passage and Screening (multiple sites) Student Stewardship (multiple sites) Three Sisters Irrigation District Fish Passage and Screening North Canal Dam Fish Passage Tumalo Creek Restoration River Meadows Fish Habitat Enhancement Deschutes County Local Wetland Inventory 14 mission statement The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council seeks to protect and restore the twomillion acre Upper Deschutes River watershed through collaborative projects in habitat restoration, watershed education, and long-term monitoring. Since 1996, the Watershed Council has invested more than $14 million in collaborative stream restoration, watershed monitoring and community education programs. By working together with landowners, environmental interests, local citizens, and representatives from local governments and agencies, the Watershed Council leads cooperative efforts to improve watershed conditions. This collaborative approach ensures that a balance of community stakeholders is involved to craft effective management strategies for our watersheds. p r o j e c t s & m i s s i o n 3

4 Supporting Salmon & Steelhead Reintroduction Stream Restoration A half-century after salmon and steelhead were blocked from their natal spawning grounds in the Upper Deschutes basin, historic reintroduction efforts are bringing these fish back to more than 100 miles of rivers and streams. While it will take many years for the complete migratory cycles to be reestablished, the reintroduction led by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Portland General Electric and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has been the catalyst for major restoration efforts in Whychus Creek and the Metolius River. To help support this effort, the Watershed Council is focusing much of its work in the Whychus Creek and the Metolius River watersheds. Specifically, the Watershed Council is: Improving wetland and riparian habitat Improving instream fish habitat Removing fish passage barriers Screening irrigation diversions The Watershed Council s projects focus on restoring healthy rivers that support clean water and strong fish populations. These projects, implemented collaboratively with numerous local, state and federal partners, seek to enhance and restore Central Oregon s world class rivers. Project highlights are presented here. Additional projects are discussed at notable stream restoration projects 1 Fish Passage & Screening Throughout Whychus Creek and Lake Creek, the Watershed Council is pursuing a dozen separate projects to ensure that irrigation diversions provide fish passage and protect fish from being trapped in irrigation canals. Construction on the largest project, located at the Three Sisters Irrigation District diversion on Whychus Creek, began in 2010 and will continue through This $2 million project will include fish screening, fish passage and approximately 1,200 feet of stream channel restoration. The work is being completed in partnership with the Deschutes National Forest and the Three Sisters Irrigation District. 2 Metolius Fish Habitat Enhancement Since 2008, the Watershed Council has been helping the Deschutes National Forest place more than 900 whole trees in the Metolius River to improve pools and cover habitat for redband trout, bull trout and reintroduced chinook salmon. The project included helicopter-based tree placements in 2010 and will be completed in Ongoing project monitoring has already identified increased fish presence in the newly restored areas a n n u a l r e p o r t

5 before after whychus creek aerial restoration The restoration of Whychus Creek at the Camp Polk Meadow Preserve includes the construction of 1.7 miles of new stream channel through the historic meadow. photography M. PERLE photography J. MATHER whychus creek tsid diversion For more than 100 years, the Three Sisters Irrigation District (TSID) dam on Whychus Creek has been a barrier to fish migration. In 2010, the Watershed Council, Deschutes National Forest and TSID worked together to restore fish passage by building up the streambed so fish can swim easily over the dam. The project also includes a state of the art fish screen to ensure that fish are prevented from becoming trapped in the irrigation canal. notable stream restoration projects 3 Whychus Creek Restoration & Management Plan Following completion of the Whychus Creek Restoration and Management Plan in 2009, the Watershed Council has continued working with the City of Sisters to develop restoration project opportunities, improve watershed stewardship in local neighborhoods, and embed the Plan in the City s Comprehensive Plan. Several restoration projects are currently in development and, over the long term, the Watershed Council will be working on many more projects that balance the needs of the creek with the needs of the community. 4 Camp Polk Meadow Preserve For the past two years the Watershed Council has been working closely with the Deschutes Land Trust and Deschutes National Forest to restore more than 1.7 miles of Whychus Creek at the Camp Polk Meadow Preserve. When complete in 2012, the project will restore important habitat for redband and steelhead trout, more than 35 acres of wetlands and more than 200,000 native plants. Restoration activities will continue through 2011 and beyond as the Watershed Council and its partners work together to complete the restoration project. s t r e a m r e s t o r a t i o n 5

6 The Watershed Council & The Freshwater Trust F or the past five years, The Freshwater Trust and the Watershed Council have worked together to develop and deliver watershed education programs for students of all ages. The partnership effort combined the statewide resources of The Freshwater Trust with the local knowledge of the Watershed Council to educate and inspire Central Oregon s next generation of watershed stewards. Watershed Education The Watershed Council coordinates place-based projects to educate the next generation of watershed stewards while connecting youth to the natural world. Through meaningful educational experiences, students develop hands-on knowledge of their local watershed. Whether in the classroom or along a stream, student projects encourage critical thinking, science inquiry, creative writing, art, music, and stewardship of the natural environment. The Watershed Council approach to education is three-tiered: Guiding students to better understand and care for their environment through hands-on projects, art, music, writing or science; Empowering students to become natural resource leaders; and Bringing community awareness to student-created projects, research and watershed stories. In 2010, the Watershed Council and The Freshwater Trust successfully: 1 Collaborated with Wolftree to deliver the second annual watershed summit for local students to present their watershed projects to the wider community. With author Richard Louv as the keynote speaker, Students Speak: A Watershed Summit inspired 135 students to take the spotlight and share their artwork, music, writing, stream data, and stewardship project outcomes with teachers, parents, and other students; 2 Coordinated education programs and projects for 16 local schools; 3 Provided educational materials, programs, presentations or curricula for over 2,500 students; 4 Engaged 190 middle school and high school students in the awardwinning Salmon Watch program on the Metolius River and Link Creek; 5 Provided hands-on education opportunities for 275 students to participate in Student Stewardship Projects to restore riparian habitat conditions on Whychus Creek and the Deschutes River; 6 Facilitated and instructed multiday 1000 Drops streamside activities with 115 students from High Lakes Elementary and 110 students from Pine Ridge Elementary; 7 Coordinated over 40 local volunteers to donate time, equipment, and expertise to help facilitate watershed education programs and stewardship projects; 8 Integrated Hometown Waters teachers and students from High Lakes Elementary and Tumalo Community School into Stream Stewardship Day activities. As part of their Hometown Waters learning activities, classes became site hosts and adopted sections of the Deschutes River during Stream Stewardship Day; 9 Facilitated, edited, and funded the publication of REALMS students native plant guide, Seeing Through the Blindfold: A Field Guide to Plants of Tumalo Valley; 10 Partnered with Sisters High School to coordinate a month-long interdisciplinary Whychus Creek Student Stewardship Project for 25 juniors and senior interns; and 11 Coordinated and led multiple student-mentoring restoration projects to support students teaching students. 6 w a t e r s h e d e d u c a t i o n

7 Student Stewardship Projects Through Student Stewardship Projects, the Watershed Council helps cultivate student watershed stewards by integrating interdisciplinary studies, creative writing, art, and science into meaningful hands-on restoration. In 2010, 275 local students participated in hands-on stewardship projects. Student Stewardship Projects seek to: Elevate student motivation for learning about their watershed; Achieve goals and outcomes identified in the Oregon Environmental Literacy Plan; Provide students with essential skills, hands-on experience, and watershed knowledge; Cultivate civic responsibility by uniting students and community around their home waters; and Inspire natural resource professionals and community members to view youth as informed and capable stream stewards. Participating schools include: Sisters High School Ponderosa Elementary Elk Meadow Elementary Bend High School Cascades Academy Seven Peaks School REALMS High Lakes Elementary connecting students to their home waters Students Speak: A Watershed Summit The Watershed Council has developed interdisciplinary tools, activities, and curricular materials that inspire students to connect to rivers and streams in their own unique way. Each year these students are given the stage to present their work, including paintings, sketches, photography, or music, and tell their watershed stories at the annual event, Students Speak: A Watershed Summit. The watershed summit is focused on helping students build an understanding of their local environment while developing an enriched and empowered sense of stewardship for their community. A total of 200 local students and community members attended and 135 participated in the watershed summit in watershed summit Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, joined the Watershed Council as the Keynote Speaker for the 2010 Watershed Summit. s t u d e n t s t e w a r d s h i p p r o j e c t s 7

8 s ince 2001, the Watershed Council has worked closely with local advisors to implement a variety of monitoring projects. In 2010, the Watershed Council worked on monitoring efforts in the Deschutes River and Whychus Creek. Activities included studies of habitat, water quality, streamflow and other indicators or watershed health. Overall, the Watershed Council seeks to use monitoring to: Analyze the status of local rivers and streams; Track changes over time; Evaluate the effectiveness of restoration projects; Identify emerging issues that may affect local fish and wildlife; and Inform the community about important issues. Watershed Monitoring Watershed monitoring allows the Watershed Council to understand changing conditions, evaluate the effectiveness of restoration projects and track longterm improvements in watershed health. Over time, monitoring is instrumental to the success of restoration projects that seek to improve habitat, water quality or other watershed conditions watershed monitoring highlights Middle Deschutes River Temperature Monitoring As streamflow restoration in the Middle Deschutes River continues to bring increased summer flows between Bend and Lake Billy Chinook, the Watershed Council is monitoring changes in water temperature to assess improvement in the health of the river. The monitoring and research being conducted by the Watershed Council is helping the Deschutes River Conservancy refine its understanding of streamflow restoration needs and plan for future projects. Whychus Creek Watershed Monitoring Since 2006, the Watershed Council has been developing and managing a watershed monitoring program in Whychus Creek designed to track the changes resulting from a portfolio of restoration projects. This effort, described in detail on page nine of this report, seeks to answer key questions about the long-term effectiveness of watershed, streamflow and habitat restoration projects. Restoration Monitoring at Camp Polk Meadow 2010 monitoring at the Camp Polk Meadow Restoration Project was led by Kiley Rucker, an OSU student earning her degree in natural resources at the Cascades Campus. Kiley s work focused on tracking changes in groundwater elevations and studying the survival of more than 150,000 native plants that are part of the restoration project. coming in 2011: fish population studies on the deschutes river The Watershed Council has teamed up with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to launch a five-year fish population monitoring study on the Deschutes River and several tributaries. The project will begin in 2011 and focus on understanding the status of redband trout populations so that future restoration efforts can be tailored to enhance the local fishery. 8 w a t e r s h e d m o n i t o r i n g

9 present research, future results Community volunteers are helping the Watershed Council collect information on macroinvertebrates to evaluate long-term improvements in Whychus Creek. Model Watershed Program Over the past decade, millions of dollars have been invested in the restoration of Whychus Creek where the reintroduction of salmon and steelhead is underway. Projects in the watershed have focused on restoring stream habitat, improving stream flows, installing fish screens on diversions and restoring fish passage at dams. While each of these projects achieves its own localized outcomes, it is also important to understand how they cumulatively improve watershed health. With the completion of the Whychus Creek Restoration Monitoring Plan in 2009, the Watershed Council worked with the Deschutes River Conservancy to launch a new, holistic approach to monitoring the effectiveness of restoration projects in Whychus Creek. Collected by local partners, monitoring data provides insight and information about water quality, fish habitat, streamflow and macroinvertebrates in order to track changes in the creek over time. With this monitoring, the Watershed Council and its partners will be able to track the ecological benefits of the restoration work in Whychus Creek. Is restoration working? Is the creek healthier? The complete suite of technical reports is available at the bonneville environmental foundation (bef) is funding the Watershed Council s work in Whychus Creek through BEF s innovative Model Watershed Program. Learn more at m o d e l w a t e r s h e d p r o g r a m 9

10 T hroughout Oregon, Watershed Councils are known for their ability to use collaboration as a powerful tool in watershed restoration. Here in the Upper Deschutes, the Watershed Council is engaged in dozens of partnerships with local businesses, non-profits, government agencies and municipalities, each with its own unique structure and purpose. Some key partnerships include: Valuable Partnerships 1 Oregon State University Cascades Campus As the next generation of community leaders near completion of their formal education, real-world experiences become critical to making the transition from the academic environment to the professional sector. For the past six years, the Watershed Council and Oregon State University s Cascades Campus have worked together to engage undergraduate interns in the Watershed Council s education, monitoring and restoration programs. The internships have provided students with hands-on experiences working in the field of community-based watershed management, helping prepare them for future careers or the pursuit of advanced degrees. 2 OWEB Special Investment Partnership While most grants to non-profits are small, piecemeal and difficult to link into large projects, there are a precious few that fund a more holistic approach to watershed restoration. In 2008, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) launched its Special Investment Partnership in the Deschutes River Basin. To date, this program has dedicated $8 million to support a portfolio of projects championed by the Deschutes River Conservancy, Deschutes Land Trust, Crooked River Watershed Council and the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council. The projects funded through this program are all focused on the restoration needed to support the successful reintroduction of salmon and/or steelhead into the Metolius River, Whychus Creek and Crooked River. photography M. MALONEY 3 Deschutes National Forest For more than a decade the Watershed Council has worked closely with the Deschutes National Forest, the largest land manager in the Upper Deschutes sub-basin. With each passing year, the partnership has continued to evolve to reflect the changing needs of each organization, expanding restoration priorities and emerging educational opportunities. In 2010, the Watershed Council worked closely with the Deschutes National Forest on youth education programs at Ryan Ranch on the Deschutes River, and numerous restoration projects along Whychus Creek and the Metolius River. 10 v a l u a b l e p a r t n e r s h i p s

11 Contract Services $27,311 (3%) Deschutes County $20,000 (2%) Other Sources $12,536 (2%) Grants (Non-Governmental) $183,653 (20%) 2010 Revenue & Expense R E V E N U E Grants $ 848,275 Deschutes County $ 20,000 Contract Services $ 27,311 Events & Other Donations $ 12,536 Total Revenue $ 908,122 Grants (State) $556,989 (61%) Grants (Federal) $107,633 (12%) The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, a key funder for watershed councils in Oregon, uses a portion of Oregon Lottery proceeds to support watershed restoration and education grant programs. The passage of Measure 76 in November 2010 renewed this funding program, ensuring that Oregon remains a leader in collaborative watershed restoration. E X P E N S E S Contract Services $ 556,480 Personnel $ 312,349 Supplies and Maintenance $ 200,045 Occupancy / Utilities $ 28,234 Printing $ 9,953 Travel $ 15,883 Insurance $ 2,336 Postage $ 942 Depreciation $ 8,391 Total Expenses $ 1,134,613 Audited financial statements available upon request. Major Funders Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board $ 425,368 Oregon Department of Environmental Quality $ 131,621 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service $ 66,170 Bonneville Environmental Foundation $ 51,194 The Freshwater Trust $ 48,324 U.S. Forest Service $ 41,463 National Forest Foundation $ 33,187 Laird Norton Family Foundation $ 28,000 City of Bend $ 21,180 Other Sources $ 20,256 Deschutes County $ 20,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation $ 11,875 Deschutes River Conservancy $ 9,484 Total $ 908, f i n a n c i a l s 11

12 The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council is a 501(c)3 non-profit community organization dedicated to protecting and restoring clean water, healthy rivers and overall watershed health in the two-million acre Upper Deschutes River watershed. To learn more about the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council: V I S I T restorethedeschutes.org W R I T E P.O. Box 1812 Bend, OR C A L L F A X