Document text
Water could use a scrub Photo by Andy Atkinson David Steinfeld, assistant manager at the Forest Service's J. Herbert Stone nursery, stands above where his agency and others want to take water from Jackson Creek in order to clean it via a man-made wetlands area. Wetlands would clean creek But agencies have trouble getting state approval By WENDY SIPOREN The idea is simple: Take water out of Jackson Creek, run it through a constructed wetland at the J. Herbert Stone Nursery, and return cleaner and cooler water to the creek. That's the plan conceived by a coalition of public agencies coordinated by the Rogue Valley Council of Governments. The U.S. Forest Service nursery has agreed to provide the land; Medford Irrigation District and Rogue River Valley Irrigation District will provide the labor and the Bureau of Reclamation is drafting the engineering plans. There's just one problem: It's against the law to take water from a stream without an approved water permit. And getting a permit is proving difficult. "The problem we're having is getting water for the wetlands," said Mark Prevost, a water quality specialist with the Rogue Valley Council of Governments. "It's a simple idea, it just hasn't worked out that way." The problem has kept the project in the planning stage for the past year. The Medford Irrigation District volunteered to donate one cubic foot of water from its Jackson Creek water allocation, or about 450 gallons per minute. But state rules prohibit the transfer before the district is certified by the state. That won't happen before the end of the year. The delay frustrates organizers who are looking at the project as a demonstration of the potential for cleaning agricultural runoff and a demonstration of their commitment to improving water quality for fish runs. "I think the project is a wonderful one," said Al Cook, southwest regional manager for the Oregon Water Resources Department. "We just have some hoops to jump through." The regulations are not unique to wetlands -- they're the same ones a homeowner wanting to build a fish pond would face, says Cook. Prevost says one of the reasons the coalition is pursuing the project is to work out bureaucratic kinks like these. "We want to ... see if we can simplify the process so we don't go to private landowners and make unreasonable demands," he explained. Jackson Creek begins above Jacksonville and flows along Hanley Road through Central Point, where it then enters Bear Creek near the Seven Oaks I-5 interchange. Like other urban streams, the creek suffers from channelization, high sediment levels, high temperatures, high phosphate and fecal coliform bacteria levels. It also sustains a wild steelhead run. Until permission comes to take stream water, the group plans to go ahead with construction of the wetlands this year, treating stormwater runoff from the nursery. This will allow the wetlands plants more time to become established. For the nursery, the demonstration wetlands project is a valuable learning experience in plant propagation as well as a way to filter runoff from their own fields before it runs into the creek. In the past, wetlands were constructed by digging up wetlands plants and transplanting them to a new site. As people begin to recognize the value of wetlands to clean, cool and slow water flows, the demand for wetland plants has grown. Assistant nursery manager David Steinfeld sees wetland species as the next big venture for the nursery, which provides trees and native grasses for public lands across the West. "This will be good information for when we start propagating for our own clients," said Steinfeld. Already they have learned a lot about how to grow sedges, rushes and bullrushes. They started by collecting seed from around the valley and then began experimenting with how to get it to sprout. Steinfeld said they were able to draw on "mistakes" made in the past. A grower in Idaho wasn't having a lot of luck getting one species to sprout until one day when the fans broke down in the greenhouse. Temperatures reached 100 degrees and everything germinated. "These seeds require very hot temperatures, direct light and high water content," said Steinfeld. "We're actually cooking them." Some wetlands projects around Rogue Valley Constructed wetlands naturally remove pollutants from water in several ways. They slow water flow so pollutants have time to settle into soil, which in turn acts as a filter. Wetlands plants also take up some of these compounds through their root systems. In addition, those systems provide a home for bacteria, fungi, algae and protozoa that digest the contaminants to obtain nutrients and energy. Here's some of the wetland projects in the Rogue Valley: Ashland's three-acre wastewater treatment wetlands and sand filter takes effluent after it is processed by the sewage treatment plant in the hopes of lowering phosphorus and temperature levels before the water can be released into Bear Creek. A small stormwater runoff wetlands at Ashland's Railroad District Park treats pollutants from cars and yard chemicals that wash into creeks during rains. A small treatment wetland at Ashland's Waldorf School, which diverts water from the Roca Creek and Paradise Creek drainages also helps alleviate flooding of the Mill Pond neighborhood. Existing wetlands at Ashland's North Mountain Park natural area will be enhanced to increase habitat for wildlife and fish and to restore the function of the flood way. Phoenix officials plan to construct a three- to five-acre wetlands as part of a new city park along Bear Creek. The wetlands will treat agricultural runoff from a Medford Irrigation District canal and provide wildlife habitat. Students at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in Medford helped construct a mitigation and enhancement project required when 1.14 acres of wetland was lost due to construction of the school. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA