Monday September 27, 2004
Model Salmon Habitat Restoration Project Announced In Lower Columbia

Source: American Rivers

The three-year, $3.8 million project --officially known as the Crims Island Section 536 Environmental Restoration Project -- was made possible thanks to a joint effort by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), American Rivers, and the Columbia Land Trust. 

The tidal marsh restoration will provide juvenile rearing and foraging habitat for fall chinook, chum and coho salmon. Other salmonids, including Snake River sockeye, steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout will benefit from restored linkages in the Columbia River’s estuarine food web. The project also will provide habitat for waterfowl, bald eagles, Columbian white-tailed deer, and migratory songbirds. 

Crims Island, 48 miles downriver from Portland in Columbia County, Ore., is a unit of the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-tailed Deer, which is administered by the Service. 

“Without any one of the primary partners, this project wouldn’t be possible,” said Taunja Berquam, the Corps’ project manager for the effort.  

“The exciting thing about this project is the success of collaborative  efforts with disparate organizations. It shows what can be done when we all  get behind something constructive,” Berquam said.   

This project will guide tidal marsh restoration elsewhere in the lower  river, said Charles Stenvall of the Service. “We have never tried anything  of this size and scope before, so the information we gain at Crims Island  will influence the design of future restoration projects on other refuge  islands,” he said.   

David Moryc of American Rivers agreed. “If we want future generations to  enjoy abundant wild salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia River, we must  focus on restoring habitat. This collaborative effort is an excellent model  and we hope to see more science-based habitat restoration occurring across  the lower Columbia estuary."   

The federal-private partnership began in August 2003 when the  Vancouver-based Columbia Land Trust (Land Trust) acquired 451 acres on Crims  Island with funding assistance from BPA.   

The Land Trust stepped in and purchased an option to acquire the property  one day before the property was slated to be sold at auction. "A private  donor gave us the $10,000 option money which gave us the time to work with  the other partners to raise the full purchase price, said Glenn Lamb,  executive director of Land Trust. “This private donor, and the private  landowner's willingness to work with the Land Trust have made this entire  project possible.”   

The Land Trust then donated the property to the Service to manage as part of  the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge for the Columbian  white-tailed deer. The Corps is providing the federal funding to complete  the restoration on the property in partnership with the Service. American  Rivers helped secure the authority and federal funding for the work.   

“This project is a good blending of federal agencies cooperating with each  other and private partners on a project where we can bring about significant  habitat restoration for a number of species all at one time,” said Cathy  Tortorici, Columbia River Estuary Coordinator for National Oceanographic and  Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Division. (NOAA Fisheries issues the  biological opinions that guide restoration efforts of the BPA, USFWS and the  Corps in the lower Columbia related to changes in the system brought about  by hydropower and Corps activities).   

Actual construction work at Crims Island began in late August 2004 but was  cut short due to heavy rains on the construction site. Construction will  resume in July 2005; work will include excavation of 2 feet of soil from a  supra-tidal reed canary grass-dominated marsh to restore daily inundation  and allow for development of a native emergent marsh plant community.   

Adjacent upland habitat, currently used for cattle pasture, will be used as  a disposal site for material excavated from the reed canary grass-dominated  marsh. Once construction for the tidal marsh is completed, the upland area  will be converted to native riparian forest habitat via planting and natural  seeding.   

The authority for the restoration study was obtained through section 536 of  the Water Resources Development Act of 2000.   

In the President’s fiscal year 2003 budget, the Crims Island Section 536  study was funded as a new start for $2 million. The primary purpose of the  study was to carry out ecosystem restoration projects necessary to protect,  monitor and restore fish and wildlife habitat based on recommendations made  by the Lower Columbia River Estuary Program (LCREP).   

The Columbia River estuary provides refuge, food and habitat for juvenile  salmon as they make their transition from freshwater to saltwater.  

Scientists agree that restoration of the Columbia River estuary is needed to  help recover healthy sustainable wild salmon stocks.   Historically the Columbia River produced more wild salmon than any river  system in the world. Today less than 1 percent of that number return to  their natal waters and 12 species of Columbia and Snake River salmon are  currently listed under the Endangered Species Act.   

The Columbia River estuary has lost over 70 percent of its historical  habitat (50 percent since 1950) primarily due to construction of  agricultural levees in floodplain habitat and to floodplain development (the  estuary is home to a growing population of over 2 million people). Local  communities from Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash., downriver through  Brownsmead, Ore., and Grays River, Wash., all the way to Astoria, Ore., are  involved in restoration projects to improve water quality and aid salmon and  wildlife.

Contact:
Amy Souers Kober 
American Rivers 
206-213-0330 x23

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