Tualatin River Watershed Council Projects

Lower Gales Creek Habitat Enhancement Plan

The Lower Gales Creek Habitat Enhancement Plan (the Plan) is a study funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to evaluate and prioritize factors that limit the salmon populations in the Tualatin Basin, in particular, the winter steelhead trout population. The study’s purpose was to identify a high priority area that would benefit winter steelhead trout in the Tualatin Basin and create a habitat restoration plan for it.

Why is the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation funding the plan?

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation constructed Scoggins Dam and Henry Hagg Lake. When the dam was constructed, fish passage was not provided. Because winter steelhead trout became a threatened fish population in1999, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began to fund habitat enhancement and restoration projects that will help winter steelhead trout in other Tualatin River sub-watersheds.

What is the Lower Gales Creek Habitat Enhancement Plan?

The Plan’s high priority area is four miles of Gales Creek from where Clear Creek enters Gales Creek downstream to Stringtown Road and also includes two miles of Clear Creek and one mile of Roderick Creek (see map).

The Plan divided the streams into 13 sections, looked at the different factors in each section, and suggested projects that could help improve stream conditions. These projects range from increasing shade on stream banks, engineering log jams to provide better fish habitat, to reshaping stream banks that would connect areas to floodplains.

See Gales Creek Enhancement Plan Report for more details of the project.