Welcome to the 2019 ELP Riparian Restoration team website!

Whitewater Ranch (WWR) is an organic blueberry and sustainable timber farm located on a beautiful 1800 acres in Leaburg, Oregon. Whitewater aims for sustainable farming practices through the improvement of the Goose Creek riparian zone within the property. Through their support of the Environmental Leadership Program’s (ELP) Riparian Restoration teams since 2014, we have been developing a  riparian buffer zone between the creek and their blueberry fields with the primary goals of increasing biodiversity and habitat for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, as well as encouraging pollinators that assist with blueberry production.

The current Riparian Restoration team focused on collecting more data on the progress of these efforts through monitoring various aspects of the overall health of Goose Creek, and improving upon the work of previous teams. In 2019 the team has utilized photopoint monitoring, individual plant monitoring, stream temperature monitoring, aquatic macro-invertebrate monitoring, and pollinator monitoring. The team collected data to assess trends at the WWR Riparian Restoration area, and to provide additional data for next year’s team. The goal of the Riparian Restoration team is to repair the ecosystem surrounding Goose Creek by planting native vegetation to provide habitat for the areas diverse wildlife and to stabilize the creek as an important condition for the many species of fish, turtles, and other invertebrates.

[embeddoc url=”https://blogs.uoregon.edu/2019riparianrestoration/files/2019/06/2019-RR-Final-Report.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]