Rebuilding Fish Passage Using Rapid Restoration Wood and Fill Technique

Past efforts to restore degraded meadow systems typically focused on nick points, such as headcuts, to stop a stream from actively eroding the streambed.  In Eastern Oregon, restoration treatments often utilized boulders to armor the eroding stream channel, preventing further downcutting and continued upslope migration of the incised channel.  This traditional treatment generally stops the active erosion, but does little to restore the conditions of the degraded meadow and creates a fish migration barrier.  A more contemporary approach to address ‘whole’ meadow restoration is to eliminate the incised channel and reconnect the stream with the floodplain by filling in the stream channel.  The Rapid Restoration Wood and Fill Technique involves constructing large wood complexes within the stream channel and filling the channel up to floodplain elevation with soil and rock, and replacing salvaged vegetation at the same elevation.   Large woody debris is scattered across the stream channel and the adjoining floodplain to slow water velocity as the stream is allowed to recharge the new soil and form a new channel across the newly constructed area.  The newly elevated channel is allowed to disperse across the entire meadow, creating side channels, saturating the floodplain, reviving salvaged vegetation and allowing fish migration.