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An ambitious campaign to restore access to fish habitat across 1,200 miles of the Rogue River Basin by 2008
Headwaters Heritage Initiative
RESTORING FREEWAYS FOR FISH
The Rogue River starts at Crater Lake and flows south and west through southern Oregon to the Pacific Ocean. Although several areas within the Rogue River system support healthy salmon and steelhead runs, salmon populations in other portions of the basin - particularly within the more settled interior valleys - clearly show signs of distress.
Over 1,000 fish passage barriers (mostly small dams and road culverts) have been identified along this river system and its tributaries. These structures either stop or slow down adult salmon and steelhead as they make their way from the ocean to their spawning grounds – both of which limit the amount of spawning areas fish can reach. Dams and culverts also interrupt young salmon and steelhead as they migrate from rivers to the ocean or as they move within streams to reach seasonally important cold water sources. The National Center has set a goal to improve fish passage to 1,200 miles of the Rogue River basin.
The National Center is working with landowners, watershed councils, local governments, and agencies to eliminate fish passage impacts. We are focusing our activities on fish passage barriers whose removal will connect adult salmon and steelhead with high quality habitats.
To date, we have helped to provide passage at 17 barriers improving access to 737 miles of stream in the Illinois River, Applegate River, Bear Creek, and Little Butte Creek systems. These projects allow adult salmon to swim more easily to higher quality stream reaches towards the headwaters of the most productive tributaries of the Rogue River, leading to a greater number of successful spawns and improved survival of young fish. Over time, these benefits will help salmon populations recover their former grandeur, fueling the local economy and providing an incredibly important source of food for much of the wildlife of the region.
Our most recent success stories are Gold Hill Diversion Dam on the Rogue River and Bryant-Elder and Glade Fork dams in the Williams Creek watershed. Other recently completed projects include Buck & Jones Irrigation Diversion on the Little Applegate River, and Little Butte Mill Dam on Little Butte Creek.
These efforts are funded, in part, by generous contributions from the Bullitt Foundation, the Burning Foundation, and the World Wildlife Fund.
Photo by Kevin Schafer.
