Presenter: James Lauder
Co-Presenters: Ella Deck, Emily Erickson
Mentor: Peg Boulay
Poster: 12
Major: Environmental Science
The South Fork of the McKenzie River historically supported a prolific spring Chinook salmon run, but it has been severely impacted by the construction of Cougar Dam in the 1960s. The flood control dam dramatically decreases the amount of water released below it and impedes natural transportation of large woody debris and sediment downstream. Additionally, leftover materials from the construction were used to create levees and revetments downstream, channelizing the historic floodplain near Strube Ponds. Our team of 11 students from the Environmental Leadership Program collected mapping and monitoring data in the general Strube Ponds area below Cougar
Dam in order establish baseline data for future restoration prioritization. To meet these goals our team conducted field monitoring with community partners from the McKenzie Watershed Council, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and U.S. Forest Service to: inventory and map levees, revetments, and historic side channels; survey macroinvertebrates, fish species, amphibian egg masses, and terrestrial herptile presence/absence; and evaluate western pond turtle habitat conditions. Compiled into a formal report, the results of our fieldwork include the egg mass locations of five herptile species which aid our community partners in prioritizing restoration activities amongst the ponds as well as maps of levees, revetments, and historic side channels to help them explore levee removal. This information will be used by our community partners to develop grant proposals for restoration work at Strube Ponds that is planned to start in 2016.