BRINGING BACK THE ESTUARY
Carl and Lucille Dawson decided not to fight Mother Nature. The levees protecting the southern portion of their 100-acre parcel from the waters of the Smith River began to fail after the major winter storms and flooding of 1996-1997. Twenty-five acres of their property, in family ownership since 1905 and located a mile from both the river's confluence with the Umpqua River and the City of Reedsport, were being tidally inundated on a daily basis.
Image courtesy of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
Facing prohibitive costs to repair the levee, the Dawsons decided to donate the property to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) for restoration to estuarine wetlands, in exchange for construction of a new levee to protect the family's remaining 75 acres for pasture and a homestead. The agency needed funding to build the new levee and to breach the old levees to restore the wetland hydrology on the donated 25 acres. A $177,600 grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board to the Umpqua Soil and Water Conservation District in 1999 paid for most of the work, with remaining funds and in-kind contributions coming from federal, state, and private entities and local volunteers.
The project provided needed habitat for salmon smolts making their transition from river to ocean, added floodplain habitat with its ability to absorb and hold sediment and floodwaters, generated construction jobs in a hard-hit economy, and made it possible for the next generation of Dawson's to live and work on their property. Bringing back the estuary made good sense for fish, wildlife, and people.
Sources
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, "Investments in Oregon's Future," http://www.oweb.state.or.us/OWEB/docs/pubs/portfolio-web.pdf
Search other OSU LIBRARY COLLECTIONS for more on ...
|
© Oregon State University, all rights reserved |
 |
 |
 |
 |