Busy as a bunch of beavers
by Mark Hebert
After decades of heavy mining and logging up Cedar Creek, the area's streams have been damaged in a way that has affected some of the area's first inhabitants: Fish.
Rob Roberts, a staff member of Trout Unlimited out of Missoula, was up Cedar Creek this week with members of the U.S. Forest Service, doing the work in the waters that beavers no longer do. Roberts said that because of the historical mining and logging, as well as the road system, the natural habitat of native fish was damaged.
Cedar Creek is home to the native species of Westslope cutthroat and bull trout. Roberts said that water quality and temperature are very good for the fish, but that Cedar Creek lacks deep pools, overhead cover and large, woody debris.
"We use Oregon Gulch (north of Cedar Creek) as a reference for what this used to look like," said Roberts. "If you drive up Oregon Gulch right now you'll see trees stacked everywhere (near the water), all over the place. You walk up here, there's nothing."
Roberts said Cedar Creek doesn't have the woody debris because the trees in the area--new growth over the past 100 years--haven't yet started to fall into the water, with their beneficial impact on the area's stream system and hydrology.
"That makes it harder for trees to get caught and cause debris jams," he said. "What we are really doing is to restart that process."
Roberts and his crew take trees from the area, both dead and not, and insert them into the water to create jams. The process calls for about five trees per jam to be strategically placed – as well as documented to see if there is movement of the trees over the years – so that when the water levels rise in the summer the jams will catch the debris and help start to form a more natural stream.
Roberts said that each tree used to create a debris jam is monitored. The species, diameter and how the tree was brought to the water is recorded.
"One of the big concerns people have is that people think we are going to blow-out bridges or put structures in danger," he said. "Last year we had four trees move (out of nearly 200) and they moved an average of 200 feet. Basically, they moved and got caught in the next logjam downstream."
Besides the trees that Roberts and his crew strategically align, the new trees caught in last year's dams are also documented.
"We just get a lot of information so we can show the impact," he said.
This week's work up Cedar Creek is phase two of the project. Last summer the crew came to the area and created around 25 small logjams downstream from the current work, covering a span of two miles.
Roberts said that he snorkeled near some of six of last year's dams on Monday and saw bull trout under two of them. He said that the work on Cedar Creek will not only improve the fish habitat, but will lead to better fish habitat downstream in the Clark Fork River.
The project will restore six miles of stream bottom along the old Finnegan mining claim. When this year's work is done, about five miles of Cedar Creek will be completed. The land was purchased in 2004 by Five Valleys Land Trust, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the U.S. Forest Service and Trout Unlimited at a cost of around $400,000, and given to the U.S. Forest Service with the intention of creating a zoological preserve.
Trout Unlimited is a national, non-profit organization whose purpose is to serve, protect and secure cold water fisheries (tour and salmon fisheries in the United States.) There are 10 staff members in Montana with another 2,500 members in the state. Trout Unlimited started in Michigan nearly 50 years ago and today boasts 150,000 members in 300 chapters across the nation.
###
After decades of heavy mining and logging up Cedar Creek, the area's streams have been damaged in a way that has affected some of the area's first inhabitants: Fish.
Rob Roberts, a staff member of Trout Unlimited out of Missoula, was up Cedar Creek this week with members of the U.S. Forest Service, doing the work in the waters that beavers no longer do. Roberts said that because of the historical mining and logging, as well as the road system, the natural habitat of native fish was damaged.
Cedar Creek is home to the native species of Westslope cutthroat and bull trout. Roberts said that water quality and temperature are very good for the fish, but that Cedar Creek lacks deep pools, overhead cover and large, woody debris.
"We use Oregon Gulch (north of Cedar Creek) as a reference for what this used to look like," said Roberts. "If you drive up Oregon Gulch right now you'll see trees stacked everywhere (near the water), all over the place. You walk up here, there's nothing."
Roberts said Cedar Creek doesn't have the woody debris because the trees in the area--new growth over the past 100 years--haven't yet started to fall into the water, with their beneficial impact on the area's stream system and hydrology.
"That makes it harder for trees to get caught and cause debris jams," he said. "What we are really doing is to restart that process."
Roberts and his crew take trees from the area, both dead and not, and insert them into the water to create jams. The process calls for about five trees per jam to be strategically placed – as well as documented to see if there is movement of the trees over the years – so that when the water levels rise in the summer the jams will catch the debris and help start to form a more natural stream.
Roberts said that each tree used to create a debris jam is monitored. The species, diameter and how the tree was brought to the water is recorded.
"One of the big concerns people have is that people think we are going to blow-out bridges or put structures in danger," he said. "Last year we had four trees move (out of nearly 200) and they moved an average of 200 feet. Basically, they moved and got caught in the next logjam downstream."
Besides the trees that Roberts and his crew strategically align, the new trees caught in last year's dams are also documented.
"We just get a lot of information so we can show the impact," he said.
This week's work up Cedar Creek is phase two of the project. Last summer the crew came to the area and created around 25 small logjams downstream from the current work, covering a span of two miles.
Roberts said that he snorkeled near some of six of last year's dams on Monday and saw bull trout under two of them. He said that the work on Cedar Creek will not only improve the fish habitat, but will lead to better fish habitat downstream in the Clark Fork River.
The project will restore six miles of stream bottom along the old Finnegan mining claim. When this year's work is done, about five miles of Cedar Creek will be completed. The land was purchased in 2004 by Five Valleys Land Trust, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the U.S. Forest Service and Trout Unlimited at a cost of around $400,000, and given to the U.S. Forest Service with the intention of creating a zoological preserve.
Trout Unlimited is a national, non-profit organization whose purpose is to serve, protect and secure cold water fisheries (tour and salmon fisheries in the United States.) There are 10 staff members in Montana with another 2,500 members in the state. Trout Unlimited started in Michigan nearly 50 years ago and today boasts 150,000 members in 300 chapters across the nation.
###