Partnering with Beavers to Recover Incised Streams – 5 Years after Restoration on the Bridge Creek Intensively Monitored Watershed

Bridge Creek, a tributary to the Lower John Day River, flows through the high-desert of central Oregon and serves as an important spawning and rearing stream for Mid-Columbia Steelhead.  Much of Bridge Creek suffers from a high degree of channel incision and features an overall lack of habitat complexity, hydrologic disconnection from groundwater and its floodplain, and high stream temperatures thought to be detrimental to juvenile steelhead.  Bridge Creek became an IMW in 2007 and restoration treatments were implemented in 2009.  The restoration approach consists of constructing in-channel structures that mimic the form and function of beaver dams in order to expedite the recovery of incised stream reaches while at the same time encouraging establishment of stable beaver complexes. Monitoring results from the Bridge Creek IMW demonstrate the ability of this restoration approach to produce many of the beneficial processes associated with beaver complexes, including increased habitat complexity, groundwater and floodplain connectivity, and moderation of high summer stream temperatures.  In addition, the conditions created by the installation of artificial beaver dam structures increases the likelihood that beavers will establish persistent colonies within treated stream reaches, thereby perpetuating benefits to stream and riparian function and steelhead habitat quality.