Sunday morning a crew of Trout Unlimited Chapter 678 volunteers teamed up with McKenzie River trust to work on the Green Island Project.
We planted 250 trees — cottonwoods, big leaf maple and alder — along an historic side channel on the Willamette and McKenzie Rivers confluence. We also got to check out the notching of Crescent Lake, the restoration project funded by the McKenzie River Two-Fly Tournament.
This project, notching Crescent Lake to reconnect it to the mainstem Willamette River and improving the riparian habitat, could be a huge boon for McKenzie and Willamette River spring chinook salmon. Juvenile salmon use these backwater alcoves for refuge and cover. But over time we’ve encroached and straightened the rivers so much that these backwaters are few and far between.
McKenzie River Trust’s Chris Vogel explains a bit about the restoration project in this podcast.
Thanks to all the volunteers. -MS
