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62 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, September 12, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend June 25, 2004 Grant will help restore streams Tributaries of Larson Creek in a planned subdivision will be opened to steelhead By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Plans to resurrect two east Medford creeks inside an future housing development will help become a blueprint for future salmon-friendly development in the Northwest, thanks to a federal grant aimed at helping solve Western water woes. The Medford Irrigation District this week won tentative approval for a $300,000 federal grant that will complete the funding to transform two Larson Creek tributaries into viable spawning and rearing habitat for wild steelhead and coho salmon. The two streams — the north and south forks of Larson Creek — run through Stonegate Estates, a planned 203-home, 96-condominium subdivision off North Phoenix Road. The two creeks, which are part of the Bear Creek basin, currently are blocked to migrating fish by canals used by MID and the Talent Irrigation District and other man-made barriers. "This was the final piece," said Steve Mason, a contract biologist working on the project. "This means we can go forward with the entire project now." Advertisement Work on replacing the canals with more than a mile of new, underground pipes to transport irrigation water could begin as early as August. Natural flows would return to the forks next year for the first time in decades, and stream restoration work could be done next spring, Mason said. Three fish barriers between the two forks and Larson Creek’s confluence with Bear Creek also would be removed, Mason said. The work, state fish biologists say, will transform about three miles of heretofore unproductive waterways into new, viable steelhead habitat as houses spring up around it. "That’s the goal," Mason said. "So, during the 2005 migration season, the steelhead will have the whole system available to them." Once they return, those steelhead that migrate into the area would then find rock weirs helping create gravelly pools crafted inside the housing development. They allow steelhead to jump systematically up the now-barren stretches. The project also calls for creating riparian zones to protect the creek while adding a bike path and possibly even viewing areas with signs telling visitors of the wild steelhead’s life cycle. The developer, Lou Mahar, plans then to deed the land immediately around the rejuvenated creeks to the city of Medford, which would extend a streamside walkway along it. Normally, streamside development in steelhead habitat is associated with problems for native fish. The project is as much about creating useable habitat for fish as it is showing other developers that streams can be assets to planned communities, said Jerry Vogt, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist involved with the project. "This sets a good precedent, that a development can occur around a reach of stream while preserving the riparian area and actually enhance the stream itself," he said. "Developers can use streams as an aesthetic complement ... while providing good fish and wildlife habitat." The Bureau of Reclamation money comes from the agency’s Water 2025 project that aims at solving some of the West’s toughest water problems. MID and the various agencies helping on the project will work out the final details of a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation over the next few weeks before any money comes MID’s way. Mason said the money will be used to purchase 66-inch diameter concrete pipes that would replace the creek and open canal that MID uses not only to deliver its own irrigation water but share water with TID. The line will be buried along North Phoenix Road, and Mahar’s Pacific Trend Building will do the construction, Mason said. The entire project costs slightly more than $600,000. The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board already allocated about $150,000 toward it. Mahar will donate construction to fill out the project’s cost. Four projects in the region to get funds The Larson Creek project is one of four in Oregon that gained tentative approval this week for funding from a new federal program aimed at tackling the West’s water problems over the next 20 years. The Water 2025 Secretarial Challenge Grant Program has poured $4 million into 19 projects in 10 western states, focusing on projects that help conserve water, render water use more efficient and solve problems through agency collaboration. Along with the Medford Irrigation District, irrigation districts in Klamath Falls, Hood River and Bend were given grants through this program. Klamath Falls — The Klamath Falls Irrigation District received a $116,517 grant to help line its 4,316-foot-long C Canal Flume with polyurethane to stop leaking and extend the life of the 83-year-old structure. The district estimates the lining will save 2,000 acre-feet of water per year — enough to put the entire city of Ashland under 6 inches of water. Hood River — The Farmers Irrigation District won a $150,000 grant to help replace 8.6 miles of a leaky, open canal with pipes. Bend — The Swalley Irrigation District and six other districts received $233,750 toward creating a pilot water bank to increase water-storage capacity in the Deschutes basin. The Bureau of Reclamation had $8.4 million allocated for western water projects through this program in 2003-04. Congress earlier ordered the bureau to put the remaining $4.4 million toward large, specific projects in New Mexico and Nevada. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities