East Regional Park Restoration Project

 

Project Photos HERE

Watershed: Coast Fork Willamette River
Sub-Watershed: Row River
2008

Project Goals:

  • Enhance native vegetation by removing noxious weeds and planting tall trees (improve canopy species?)
  • Make structural improvements to existing ponds for Western pond turtles and other native species: slope banks, add fill as necessary, create nesting mounds or manage vegetation for nesting, add additional basking logs.
  • Maintain and enhance diverse plantings for cover/forage for migrating song birds and others.
     

Project Team Members:

  •  Amanda Ferguson, City of Cottage Grove Planner
  •  Rob Cox, USFS Wildlife Biologist
  •  Pam Reber, Coast Fork Coordinator/Project Manager
  •  Alison Center, Coast Fork Turtle Expert
  •  Stefan Aumack, Kennedy High School Instructor/Conservation Corps Lead
     


Natural Resource Monitoring:

  1. Photo monitoring at ALL work sites—identify photo mgmt lead that can have electronic copies available for final report, send duplicates to CFWWC.
  2. Western pond turtle tracking and visual monitoring during May & June
  3. Western pond turtle nest monitoring late June through mid-August
  4. Depth assessment of 3 ponds—and fluctuation correlated to dam releases.
     

Volunteer Opportunities:

  • Tree protection (from beaver) work parties at both ERP and Garden Lake (Rob and Pam)
  • Kiosk built & ready to be installed at ERP (CFWWC volunteers/STEP grant)
  • Turtle Monitoring: Training & monitoring begins May 3rd at 11:30am.
  • Adopt the East Regional Park! Become a team leader for work parties, including one on May 17th!
  • Help decorate the kiosk with natural resource information displays.
     

Project Plan:

Noxious Weed Removal:

  • Dense stands of blackberry: mechanical removal on __acres; followed by grubbing.
  • Understory infestation of blackberry, Scot’s broom & English ivy: manual removal on ___ acres (cutting & grubbing)
  • Steep banks: cut down, add ~ 3’ of fill (with barrier?) to suppress
  • Maintenance removal: retreat areas by cutting and grubbing
  • Mowing/brush cutting of reed canary grass
  • Inventory & develop management strategies for other noxious species in park
  • Assess presence/absence of Japanese knotweed, meadow knapweed, other priority weeds.
  • Identify & monitor noxious weeds in ponds
  • Decide whether to target more benign species like choke cherry, holly, etc.
     

Native plantings:

  • Follow all removal by native plantings at density appropriate to area

o Mature canopy: protect edges with shade plantings.
o Immature canopy: add canopy species, especially in deep soil areas
o No canopy: add species particular to soil/moisture condition

  • Structural improvement to riparian condition of ponds:
  • The steep banks left by historic mining are topsoil limited, vegetation impaired and difficult for terrestrial wildlife to maneuver

.Western pond turtle habitat

o NESTING:

  • Develop maintenance plan for areas identified to date
  • Identify & manage other areas in the park
  • Monitor nesting behavior and areas.

o BASKING:

  • Add additional basking logs
  • Replace basking logs installed previously

Bird habitat

o Enhance & Maintain good habitat for a diversity of bird species.

  • Migrating song birds: maintain good cover & forage in areas of use per species: add diverse food species in plantings.
  • Waterfowl—add nesting boxes in key areas
  • Herons—retain remote nature in key areas
  • Cormorants—canopy limitations are limiting this species using the park.
  • Raptors—retain some open areas and diversify the vegetation.
  • Woodpeckers—retain remote nature in key areas

Project Area This is a large 1.2 MB pdf file. (zoomable aerial view.)

Restoration and Management Objectives:

* REDUCE NON NATIVE VEGETATION; INCREASE NATIVE FOREST & SHRUBS
* IMPROVE WESTERN POND TURTLE HABITAT

REDUCE NON NATIVE VEGETATION; INCREASE NATIVE FOREST & SHRUBS

Target species for removal and the target % reduction:

* Blackberry: 85%
* English ivy: 95%
* Scot's Broom: 100%
* Reed Canary grass: 40%
* Yellow flag iris: 95%

Target species for planting:

Floodplain forest (Areas 1-3, 5):

* Big-leaf maple
* Snowberry
* Red-osier dogwood
* Ninebark
* Elderberry
* Ash
* Red Alder
* Osoberry/ Indian Plum
* Cow parsnip
* Carex & Juncus spp.
* Red-flowering currant
* Cottonwood

Shrub-scrub zones (Area 4):

* Willow (Scouler's, Pacific)
* Red Alder
* Black cottonwood (Poplar)
* Spirea
* Ash
* Oregon white oak
* Nutka rose
* Black Hawthorn
* Carex & Juncus spp.

Open grassy transition/disturbed areas:

* Native forb & grass mix featuring: riverbank lupine, blue wild rye, California brome, California oatgrass, and others.

WHY? What will be the result?

1. Diversify the variety of species present on site. Many non-native species aggressively form large monoculture stands. Such stands of a single species no longer have the horizontal patchiness or vertical diversity of height to provide for a diversity of wildlife inhabitants. A significant step in achieving a diversity of plant and animal species in the East Regional Park is the replacement of the non-native plant species that now occupy much of the area with diverse native plantings.

2. Create a diversity of habitat structure to attract and provide for diverse flora and fauna. Various habitat niches are provided in part by vertical and horizontal heterogeneity of structural components.

* A variety of niches are provided vertically by different canopy layers such as overstory trees, understory trees and shrubs, and ground covers. Horizontal heterogeneity also contributes significantly to diverse habitats. Horizontal diversity is provided by patchiness of plant species.
* Habitat structure is provided by vegetation; canopy trees, understory trees and shrubs, and native grasses and forbs. It is also provided by downed logs, snags, rocks, etc...

3. Increase SHADE on waterways to reduce temperature pollution--high water temperatures result in LOWER DISSOLVED OXYGEN levels for fish and aquatic species.

4. Increase SHADE on native forest & shrub areas to reduce competition--many native plants are shade loving while many invasives thrive in full sun. We seek to create shade and competition in the transition zones so that our vegetation enhancement work will last into the future.

IMPROVE WESTERN POND TURTLE HABITAT

* Increase number of basking logs--place 40 logs as individual structures and complexes.
* Slope banks to create a more natural condition where possible.

Completed Work:
Removal/planting on 2+ acres of the site has occurred to date. This work was led by the US Forest Service in cooperation with the City of Cottage Grove.

 
 
 
 
 

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