Willamette Valley Projects
Baskett Slough
Buchanan Farm
E.E. Wilson
Gospel Swamp
Long Tom Ranch
Mud Slough
Muddy Creek
Multnomah Channel
Wetlands
Owens Farm
Sandy River Delta
Sauvie Island
Snag Boat Bend
Tualatin River
Wapato Lake
West Eugene Wetlands
Baskett Slough
Location: Baskett
Slough National Wildlife Refuge, 10 miles west of Salem off
Highway 22.
Project: Restore agricultural lands to
wetlands to provide habitat for migratory birds and other
native wildlife.
Size: 400
acres of wetlands restored.
Partners: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Ducks Unlimited.
Background: Wetland restoration work
at Baskett Slough began in 1994, targeting marginal agricultural
lands that were traditionally planted to crops to provide
forage for wintering Canada geese. Diversity and abundance
of birds using the refuge has increased dramatically. Similar
restoration work is under way or planned at the Tualatin River,
Ankeny and William L. Finley national wildlife refuges. The
Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to restore a total of 2,000
acres of wetlands on the refuges by the year 2000.
Contact: Jim Houk, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 26208 Finley Refuge Road, Corvallis OR 97333;
541-757-7236.
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Buchanan
Farm
 Location:
South of Corvallis, three miles
north of Finley National Wildlife Refuge.
Acres: 244-acre Wetland Reserve Program
conservation easement
Project: Under the Natural Resources
Conservation Service’s Wetlands Reserve Program, a portion
of the 450-acre Buchanan Century Farm is being restored to
wetlands. The acreage has been placed in a 30-year conservation
easement with the NRCS. The Wetlands Reserve Program reimburses
the Buchanans for 75 percent of the restoration costs. In
exchange for a conservation easement protecting the wetlands
for 30 years, they also receive a payment equal to 75 percent
of the agricultural land value.
The Buchanans kept their filbert orchards and
wine grapes, but took 115 acres of grass seed out of production.
Another 130 acres of forested bottomlands along the creeks
— never farmed — anchor the entire restoration project.
Along Beaver and Muddy Creeks, forested riparian areas are
being expanded. Native wet prairie plants are being re-seeded
in easement areas.
Partners: Buchanan family, Natural Resources
Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife
Benefits: Enhances habitat for several
species of concern, including red-legged frogs and western
pond turtles, and provides outstanding habitat for willow
flycatchers and other songbirds and waterfowl. The restored
areas support an assemblage of native wetland prairie plants
that have become extremely rare in the Willamette Valley.
Contact: Dave Buchanan, 26335 Greenberry
Road, Corvallis, OR 97333; (541) 753-8754. Gary Briggs, Natural
Resources Conservation Service, Tangent Field Office, Tangent,
OR; (541) 967-5925.
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E.E.
Wilson
 Location:
Ten miles north of Corvallis,
along Highway 99W
Land Manager: Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife
Project: With the support of several
partners, in 1992 ODFW began restoring wetlands at E.E. Wilson
as part of a new management plan emphasizing biodiversity.
By 1995, several dozen small ponds and wetlands totaling 170
acres were constructed or enhanced, and now support a diversity
of native wetland plants and wildlife. Ongoing maintenance
includes control of non-native vegetation, especially reed
canary grass.
Benefits: More than 60 bird species new
to the area have been observed in recent years, most of them
associated with wetland habitats. E.E. Wilson now supports
significant numbers of breeding waterfowl, up from almost
none before restoration. Increasing numbers of species of
wading birds, shorebirds, and rails now use the area. More
than 800 waterfowl hunter visits were recorded each of the
past three years, up from virtually none before restoration.
Partners: Ducks Unlimited, Oregon Duck
Hunters Association, Pheasants Forever, Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife
Contact: Dave Budeau, Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, 29555 Camp Adair Road, Monmouth OR 97631;
541-745-5334.
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Gospel
Swamp
 Location:
In Benton County, about 20 miles southwest of Corvallis near
the town of Alpine.
Owners: Warren and Laurie Halsey
Project: Restores about 50 acres of wetlands
and riparian forest along Muddy Creek. Under the Natural Resource
Conservation Service’s Wetlands Reserve Program, 66 acres
of the Halsey’s grass seed farm and pasture were placed
under a 30-year conservation easement. Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife and Ducks Unlimited contributed about two-thirds
of the construction costs, with the Halseys paying for the
rest. In exchange for placing a 30-year easement on their
property, the NRCS reimbursed the Halseys for 75% of the market
value of the land, as well as 75% of the costs of planting
native grasses, shrubs, and trees.
Partners: The Halseys, Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited, and the Natural Resources
Conservation Service.
Benefits: Habitat for 180 species of
birds, and red-legged frogs and western pond turtles, both
listed on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
sensitive species list.
Contact: Steve Smith, Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, 7118 NE Vandenberg, Corvallis, OR 97330;
541-757-4186.
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Long
Tom Ranch
 Location:
In Lane County, about 2 miles west of Junction City, at the
junction of the Amazon Channel and Long Tom River.
Owner: Privately-owned with WRP conservation
easement
Project: Under the USDA’s Wetlands
Reserve Program, 190 acres of wetlands were restored, and
a total of 355 acres of wetlands, riparian forest, and surrounding
uplands are protected by a permanent conservation easement.
The natural hydrology of this site was altered by flood control
projects along the Long Tom River and Amazon Creek. Restoration
efforts have focused on restoring the original hydrology of
the property without removing the flood-control benefits of
the Long Tom River and Amazon Channel.
Partners: Private land owners, Ducks
Unlimited, East Lane Soil and Water Conservation District,
Natural Resources Conservation Service, Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Benefits: Restoration was designed to
benefit a diversity of wildlife species, including neotropical
migrant songbirds, shorebirds, bald eagles, peregrine falcons,
western pond turtles, and waterfowl. There is outstanding
potential habitat for a number of threatened and endangered
wetland prairie plants, including Nelson’s checker-mallow
and Kincaid’s lupine.
One unique feature of this project is that it
includes the largest Oregon chub pond in the Willamette Valley.
The Oregon chub was placed on the federal endangered species
list in 1992, after suffering from decades of habitat destruction
and predation by introduced warmwater fishes. An historic
oxbow was excavated and provides habitat for the chub, a small
minnow adapted to the warm temperatures of the oxbows when
they become isolated from main drainages during low water.
Contact: Alan Makinson, Natural Resources
Conservation Service, Tangent Field Office, Tangent OR; 541-967-5927.
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 Location:
West of Salem in Polk County, just east of Baskett Slough
National Wildlife Refuge.
Owners: Mark and Debbie Knaupp
Project: Restores 400 acres of wetlands,
including 345 acres placed in a permanent Wetlands Reserve
Program (WRP) conservation easement. The Knaupps enrolled
a portion of their grass seed farm in the Natural Resource
Conservation Service’s WRP program because of a personal
interest in wetlands and waterfowl habitat, and after a series
of wet years and growing numbers of wintering geese made the
lowlands along Mud Slough difficult to farm. The wetland was
restored by building a series of low dikes to slow down and
impound water from adjacent Mud Slough during high-water.
The existing perennial fescue grass was eliminated and the
site has reverted to native herbaceous wetland vegetation
within two years of restoration. Limited planting of native
trees and shrubs provided woody cover and diversity to the
site. The WRP paid the Knaupps for a permanent conservation
easement on the restored acreage, and the WRP, ODF&W,
Ducks Unlimited and the Knaupps funded construction and other
restoration costs. In addition to the WRP acreage, the Knaupps
are in the process of restoring 55 acres as part of a wetland
mitigation site.
Partners: The Knaupps, Natural Resource
Conservation Service, Ducks Unlimited, and Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife.
Benefits: Provides habitat for migrating
and wintering waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, bald eagles
and songbirds. Seven species of waterfowl breed on the wetlands.
Nelson’s checkermallow, a flower listed as threatened
under the federal Endangered Species Act, grows in wetland
meadows.
Contact: Ken Hale, Natural Resources
Conservation Service, 289 E. Ellendale #504, Dallas, OR 97338;
503-623-5534.
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Muddy Creek
 Location:
West of Highway 99 from Dawson Road downstream to the confluence
of the Marys River just west of Corvallis.
Project: A series of projects are providing
the components of what could eventually be a corridor of protected
and restored habitats along the Muddy Creek corridor between
William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge and Corvallis.
Partners: Greenbelt Land Trust, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife,
City of Corvallis, Natural Resources Conservation Service,
private landowners
Notes: Muddy Creek has never been channelized
and has good oak and ash riparian forest habitat as well as
extensive seasonal wetlands. Greenbelt Land Trust is working
to acquire 65 acres of wetlands and conservation easements
over an additional 50 acres with funding from a 2001 North
American Wetlands Conservation Act grant. The Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and
the Natural Resources Conservation Service have helped private
landowners restore or enhance more than 400 acres of prior
converted wetlands and riparian habitat in recent years. The
City of Corvallis is considering purchase of an additional
200 acres along the Muddy Creek floodplain with funds from
a bond measure approved by city voters in 2000.
Contact: Karlene McCabe, Greenbelt
Land Trust, Box 1721, Corvallis OR 97339; 541-752-9609; greenbelt@proaxis.com
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Multnomah Channel Wetlands
Location: Off
highway 30 in northwest Multnomah County, about 10 miles from
of downtown Portland.
Owner: Metro
Size: 309 acres
Project: Construction of water control
structures to enhance marsh areas. Plant 24 acres using 6
species of hardwoods and increase bank stabilization. Conduct
surveys and assess fisheries use of channel habitat.
Future plans: Restoration of more natural
hydrology and native plant communities.
Other: Metro's lands are within a mile
or two of the 420-acre Burlington Bottoms wetlands, purchased
by the Bonneville Power Administration in 1991 to mitigate
wildlife habitat losses, and just across the channel from
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's 12,000-acre Sauvie
Island Wildlife Area.
Contact: Jim Morgan, Metro, 600
NE Grand Avenue, Portland OR 97232-2736; 503/797-1727.
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Owens Farm
Location: North Corvallis
Project: Protect and restore wetland,
oak, and prairie habitats on a 218-acre property adjacent
to Jackson-Frazier Wetland.
Partners: Greenbelt Land Trust, City
of Corvallis, and Benton County.
Notes: The Greenbelt Land Trust purchased
95 acres of the Owens Farm site, and the City of Corvallis
purchased 113 acres of the property in February 2002. The
Greenbelt Land Trust also has the option of purchasing and
additional five acres of adjacent oak woodland. The next phase
of the project will analyze existing soils, vegetation, wildlife,
and hydrological conditions on the property to develop a management
and restoration plan for the site. The data assessment will
also be used by Benton County to update their management and
restoration plan for the adjacent Jackson Frazier Wetland.
The site contains a diversity of habitats ranging from wetlands,
oak woodlands, riparian habitat, farmed grasslands and former
oak savanna. All of the habitat types found on the property
are rare in the Willamette Valley and support a number of
priority bird species and rare or endangered plant species.
The site is located at the confluence of Jackson and Frazier
Creeks. The Greenbelt Land Trust and the City of Corvallis
will evaluate resource values of the property before beginning
restoration or management.
Contact: Karlene McCabe,
Greenbelt Land Trust, Box 1721, Corvallis OR 97339; 541-752-9609;
greenbelt@proaxis.com
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Sandy River Delta
Location: Just
east of the Sandy River off Interstate 84 (exit 18) in eastern
Multnomah County.
Owner: Columbia River
Gorge National Scenic Area (U.S. Forest Service)
Size: 1,400 acres of former
agricultural lands and forests, including seasonal wetlands,
sloughs and dense stands of hardwood.
Wetland restoration: Installation
of 3 water control structures restoring 150 acres of wetlands.
Approximately 80 acres of reforestation of hardwoods, using
willows cottonwoods, and ash. Removing invasive plants such
as reed canary grass and blackberries using mechanical methods.
Reed canary grass removal will be an ongoing project. Future
plans call for reforesting 30-50 acres each year for 10
years, and monitoring of native wetland plants.
Partners: U.S. Forest
Service, Ducks Unlimited, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,
National Forest Foundation, Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife, Friends of Trees, American Forests Global Releaf
Program, City of Portland, Bureau of Environmental Services.
Contact: Virginia
Kelly, U.S. Forest Service, 902 Wasco Avenue #200, Hood
River OR 97031; 541/386-2333.
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Sauvie Island
Location: Sauvie
Island Wildlife Area, 12 miles northwest of Portland.
Projects: Restore or enhance
wetlands through installation of water control structures,
pumps and fencing to control livestock grazing.
Size: More than 3,600
acres of wetlands.
Partners: Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited, Natural Resources
Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon
Duck Hunters Association.
Background: The overall
project restores or enhances 3,500 acres of wetlands on
Sauvie Island and on the Washington side of the Columbia
River. The work is part of a $1.5 million project put together
in 1995 that also includes habitat restoration in Washington's
Vancouver Lowlands and Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.
About half of the funding came from a federal grant under
the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.
A second phase of the project
put together by Ducks Unlimited taps the same federal grant
program to help pay for restoration and enhancement of another
1,985 acres of wetlands on the north end of the Sauvie Island
wildlife Area and on Metro properties along the adjacent
Multnomah Channel.
Projects on the Washington side
of the Columbia River include more than 2,500 acres of wetland
acquisition and restoration in the area between Vancouver
and Woodland.
Contact: Mark Nebeker, Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife, 18330 NW Sauvie Island
Road, Portland, OR 97231; 503-621-3488.
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Snag Boat Bend
 Location:
On the Willamette River south of Peoria in Linn County.
Project: Acquisition of
a key 341-acre property on the Willamette River for addition
to the nearby William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge.
Partners: U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy
Notes: The Nature Conservancy
bought the Snag Boat Bend property from a private landowner
in 1998 for $920,000 and transferred it to the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service in 2000. The new Snag Boat Bend refuge
unit encompasses 140 acres of wetland, including floodplain
forests, marshes, backwater sloughs, and wildlife food plots
that the previous owner established. The area supports western
pond turtles and red-legged frogs, both sensitive species,
while attracting thousands of waterfowl during the fall,
winter and spring. The riparian forests also provide habitat
for a colony of herons, nesting hawks, and songbirds. Planned
restoration work includes restoration of riparian forest
and other floodplain habitats.
Contact: Jim Houk,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 26208 Finley Refuge Road,
Corvallis OR 97333-9533; 541-757-7236
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Tualatin River
Location: Near
Sherwood, Oregon, 15 miles southwest of downtown Portland.
Project: Multiple projects are restoring
habitats on recently acquired lands within the refuge’s
different units. Along Highway 99W, 400 acres of wetlands
have been restored on the old Steinborn dairy in what was
the first major habitat restoration project on the refuge.
Restoration on the Dennis Unit involves 100 acres of emergent
wetland, forested wetland, and oak/pine savannah. Wetland,
riparian forest and oak/pine savannah are also being re-established
on the 75-acre Parr Unit and 50-acre Morand Unit.
Partners: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Ducks Unlimited, Bureau of Reclamation, Metro, Friends of
the Refuge, Tualatin Riverkeepers, Friends of Trees, and Portland
Bureau of Environmental Services.
Notes: To date, 1,253 acres of the 3,058
acres approved for acquisition have been protected in fee
purchase or under long-term management agreement. In addition,
approximately 625 acres of native habitats have been restored.
Post-restoration monitoring has recorded 165 new migratory
bird species using the refuge with wintering waterfowl populations
peaking at 50,000 birds. Bald eagles and peregrine falcons
now winter on the refuge. Migrating salmonids benefit from
enhanced passage and backwater flood habitats along perennial
tributaries and mainstream reaches of the Tualatin River.
Although presently closed for public use, the refuge has entered
into master planning and engineering and design for visitor
service facilities with plans to open the refuge in the near
future.
Contact: Ralph D. Webber, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Tualatin River
NWR, 16507 SW Roy Rogers Road, Sherwood OR 97140; (503) 590-5811;
Ralph_Webber@r1.fws.gov
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Wapato Lake
 Location:
South of Forest Grove near Gaston (Washington and Yamhill
Counties).
Project: Establish a new national
wildlife refuge unit to protect and restore wetlands within
historic Wapato Lake and the floodplain of the upper Tualatin
River.
Partners: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Ducks Unlimited, local landowners
Notes: A group of local landowners asked
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider establishing
a new national wildlife refuge encompassing the historic Wapato
Lake. The Fish and Wildlife Service has identified an area
of approximately 6,400 acres east of the town of Gaston and
south of Forest Grove as a study area for the proposed refuge.
The proposed refuge boundary encompasses the historical Wapato
Lake bed and extends downstream along the Tualatin River floodplain.
About 600 acres in size, Wapato Lake has historically been
one of the most important places in the northern Willamette
Valley for waterfowl habitat. The scrub-shrub wetlands that
were formerly found at this site have been almost entirely
been eliminated from this part of Oregon. The area has been
drained since the 1930s for agricultural crops, and most of
the area has been ditched, diked, and drained with tiles to
maintain agricultural status. Restoration of the Tualatin
River floodplain and Wapato Lake’s historic wetlands
would provide tremendous benefits for migratory birds and
could also prove helpful for at-risk salmonids. The area is
also a high priority for biodiversity conservation in the
Willamette Valley.
Contact: Ralph D. Webber, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, Tualatin River
NWR, 16507 SW Roy Rogers Road, Sherwood OR 97140; (503) 590-5811
Ralph_Webber@r1.fws.gov
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West Eugene Wetlands
Location: West
Eugene's Amazon Creek system.
Project: On-going land acquisition and
wetland restoration program to implement local government's
wetland conservation plan.
Size: Partners have assembled a conservation
network that encompasses more than 1,800 acres, with acquisitions
continuing.
Partners: Bureau of Land Management,
City of Eugene, Lane Council of Goverments, The Nature Conservancy,
Corps of Engineers, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Other: The West Eugene area includes
some of the largest remaining fragments of the Willamette
Valley's native wet prairies, which provide habitat for a
number of rare and endangered species. Partners are assembling
a conservation network that will connect West Eugene wetlands
with the marshes of Fern Ridge Reservoir, a major stopping
point for migrant birds of the Pacific Flyway. Pending projects
include a 300-acre wetland restoration project on Amazon Creek.
Contact: Steve Gordon, Lane Council
of Governments, 125 E. 8th Avenue, Eugene OR 97401;
541-687-4426.
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Updated
November 14, 2001
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