Boxler Creek Salmon Habitat Project

Coho Salmon at Boxler Creek

One of the treasures of living at Fishhawk Lake is viewing the annual salmon spawning that occurs in the latter part of the year. Over twenty years ago, a major passage had been blocked by culverts, which in turn had blocked the salmon passage to Boxler Creek (located at the end of Northshore Drive). In 1996, the Fishhawk community recognized the need to restore the passage. We worked with the Upper Nehalem Watershed Council, along with biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), as well as a team of experts from Columbia Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service all came together to design a solution. Grant funding was secured from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, ODFW Restoration and Enhancement Board and the Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation. It was no small task!

With funding in hand, the culverts were removed and a railcar bridge was installed in the summer of 1998. As soon as the rains came that year, Coho salmon arrived, followed by Searun Cutthroat Trout, and finally Winter Steelhead who all returned to Boxler Creek, reclaiming 1.5 miles of historical habitat that is essential for spawning, rearing young and for summer refuge.

This continues to be supported by several groups, one of which is the Upper Nehalem Watershed Council. This is a non-profit organization, which serves the upper Nehalem Valley stakeholders (timber, ag, conservationist, local government) to secure funds to give technical support to implement stream/salmon/forest habitat restoration projects on public and private lands. This has gone on for ten years. They also monitor water quality basin wide (temperature, turbidity and macro invertebrate) and conduct watershed assessments. Along with all of that, they educate communities (like ours) about watershed health issues and opportunities.

I have been a member of the Watershed Council for a number of years and the meetings are usually quite interesting. They typically meet on the 4^th Thursday of the month at the Mist Birkenfeld Fire Station (double check since they do not always meet every month). It would be a value if some other people from our community became involved. If you would like more information, please visit: nehalem.org or call me at 755-0213

Troy Horton