Whidbey Island Near Shore Research Project

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife purchased
for Washington Trout twenty–five Lotek coded radio
transmitters and a Lotek data logger receiver to aid in ELJ
wood-budget monitoring.
The transmitters and receiver were purchased
utilizing WDFW Cooperative funds previously awarded
to Washington Trout. The receiver allows for automatic
data logging of transmissions, and can be programmed
ahead of deployment, requiring less training for field crews
and providing greater efficiency on the river. The system
enables Washington Trout crews to approximate individual
log locations from the road before and after large flow
events; additional data can be obtained about river/wood
dynamics in large flow events without risking crew
safety. Radio transmitters are being installed in tagged
logs (natural and ELJ) that have been transported by river
processes downstream of the ELJ project reach.
All of the transmitters are scheduled to be installed
by the end of March 2005, and 62 additional transmitters
will be purchased for future use. The transmitters typically
function for four-and-a-half years, potentially longer. Data
collected by radio telemetry will help answer questions
about missing tagged logs, add to a better understanding of
river/wood dynamics, and may prove to be an invaluable
tool in future modeling of ELJ function and performance.
-- Mary Lou White; Program Manager
German Creek
Clatskanie, OR
Germany Creek
Longview, WA
The small Cowlitz County stream that joins the
lower Columbia River at river mile 56 appears on maps
as “Germany Creek,” but you’ll have to ask the locals for
German Creek if you’re looking for directions. German
Creek supports steelhead, cutthroat trout, and coho, pink,
chinook and an important population of chum salmon,
federally-protected under the Endangered Species Act. The
watershed also provides habitat for a number of wildlife
species including elk, black-tail and Columbian whitetail
deer (Threatened ESA-listing), bald eagle, osprey,
Germany Creek Conservation and Restoration Project Property
and a variety of
waterfowl.
Columbia
Land Trust
(http://www.
columbialandtrust.
org) is purchasing
a permanent
Germany Creek within project property conservation
easement on 155
acres of riparian, floodplain and associated upland habitat
in the lower one mile of German Creek. The property
presents a unique opportunity to enhance chum salmon
spawning within this portion of the Lower Columbia
River. There are two documented chum spawning sites
within the property. Along the western slope there are a
series of springs and an old creek channel that has filled
with sediment and become overgrown. Preliminary
investigations suggest a strong opportunity to rehabilitate
this channel for chum spawning and rearing. In the past,
possibly around the mid-twentieth century, previous
landowners created four ponds when they excavated
gravel on the German Creek floodplain; enhancing habitat
functions in the man-made ponds and establishing a
surface connection to the stream and associated floodplain
could provide significant areas of juvenile salmonid rearing
habitat.
Columbia Land Trust, a partner in Washington
Trout’s Schoolhouse Creek Restoration Project in
Skamania County, has contracted Washington Trout to
provide technical and design assistance for the fish habitat
restoration aspects of this project. Washington Trout will
be performing topographic and GPS surveys of the project
site during spring 2005 to facilitate the identification,
prioritization, and design of restoration activities on the
property.
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