Event Title

Concurrent Sessions A: Nature Like Fishways - Whychus Creek – Rock Ramp Fish Passage Design, Performance, and Lessons Learned

Location

Construction & Engineering Hall, Oregon State University

Start Date

26-6-2013 11:00 AM

End Date

26-6-2013 11:20 AM

Description

River Design Group, Inc. collaborated with the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, Three Sisters Irrigation District (TSID), and the U.S. Forest Service to prepare fish passage and screening solutions for Whychus Creek, a tributary to the Deschutes River near Sisters, Oregon. Whychus Creek drains the eastern flank of the Three Sisters within the Cascade Mountain range of central Oregon. Stream geomorphology is influenced by alluvial fan processes including abundant bed load and dynamic channel conditions, and historical channel manipulations undertaken for flood water management. Periodic rain-on-snow events result in flashy, high magnitude runoff and bedload transport. Constructed in the early 1970s, the TSID dam is thethird diversion dam built in the Whychus Creek project reach. The previous two structures were undermined by historical flood events and abandoned by TSID. The operational dam diverts water into the irrigation network and is believed to be a complete upstream fish migration barrier due to excessive jump height during low flows and elevated velocities during high flows. With recent actions to reintroduce mid-Columbia steelhead and spring Chinook salmon, addressing fish passage barriers in the Deschutes River basin is necessary to return reintroduced steelhead and salmon to natal streams. RDG implemented a rock ramp design in October 2010. A 10-year rain-on-snow event in January 2011 affected vertical channel stability, compromising the project’s goal of fish passage. A post-runoff assessment was completed to identify ramp failure mechanisms. A repair design incorporating failure mechanism conclusions was implemented in 2011. Since implementation, the watershed has experienced a significant forest fire, multiple overbank flow events, and ice scour. Fish passage has been maintained as the rock ramp has adjusted to streamflows and ice events.

Comments

Troy Brandt is River Design Group's principal biologist and has been working on stream restoration and fish passage projects in central and eastern Oregon since 2001. He is currently working to improve watershed connectivity for endemic fish species passage in the closed basins of eastern Oregon.

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Jun 26th, 11:00 AM Jun 26th, 11:20 AM

Concurrent Sessions A: Nature Like Fishways - Whychus Creek – Rock Ramp Fish Passage Design, Performance, and Lessons Learned

Construction & Engineering Hall, Oregon State University

River Design Group, Inc. collaborated with the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, Three Sisters Irrigation District (TSID), and the U.S. Forest Service to prepare fish passage and screening solutions for Whychus Creek, a tributary to the Deschutes River near Sisters, Oregon. Whychus Creek drains the eastern flank of the Three Sisters within the Cascade Mountain range of central Oregon. Stream geomorphology is influenced by alluvial fan processes including abundant bed load and dynamic channel conditions, and historical channel manipulations undertaken for flood water management. Periodic rain-on-snow events result in flashy, high magnitude runoff and bedload transport. Constructed in the early 1970s, the TSID dam is thethird diversion dam built in the Whychus Creek project reach. The previous two structures were undermined by historical flood events and abandoned by TSID. The operational dam diverts water into the irrigation network and is believed to be a complete upstream fish migration barrier due to excessive jump height during low flows and elevated velocities during high flows. With recent actions to reintroduce mid-Columbia steelhead and spring Chinook salmon, addressing fish passage barriers in the Deschutes River basin is necessary to return reintroduced steelhead and salmon to natal streams. RDG implemented a rock ramp design in October 2010. A 10-year rain-on-snow event in January 2011 affected vertical channel stability, compromising the project’s goal of fish passage. A post-runoff assessment was completed to identify ramp failure mechanisms. A repair design incorporating failure mechanism conclusions was implemented in 2011. Since implementation, the watershed has experienced a significant forest fire, multiple overbank flow events, and ice scour. Fish passage has been maintained as the rock ramp has adjusted to streamflows and ice events.