UPDATE
Timber Creek & Creekside Streambank Stabilization & Restoration
The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council (UDWC) and Committee for Citizen Involvement with the City of Sisters want to thank the Timber Creek and Creekside homeowners for their attendance at the November 18th, 2009 meeting at City of Sisters City Hall. The meeting was held to discuss options for moving forward on a Timber Creek and Creekside Streambank Stabilization and Restoration project. This project is identified as "Action 31" in the Whychus Creek Restoration and Management Plan (WPN 2009) (“Restoration Plan”).
Click here to download a PDF version of the meeting handout materials (0.2 MB).
Timber Creek and Creekside homeowners present expressed an interest in moving forward with a holistic collaborative project. For this to occur, the homeowners will need to decide 1) if they are interested on moving forward on a holistic collaborative project as described in Option B in the meeting handout and 2) if so, contact the City of Sisters to explore options for the creation of an assessment district or other mechanism to facilitate homeowner involvment.
The UDWC encourages homeowners along the creek in the Timber Creek or Creekside neighborhoods to contact UDWC Project Manager, Mathias Perle with any questions. The UDWC is also open to being present at any potential follow up meetings with homeowners along the creek. Click here for Mathias Perle's contact information
Whychus Creek Restoration and Management Plan
The UDWC presented the Restoration Plan to the City of Sisters City Council and Planning Commision for final approval on August 27, 2009. The Restoration Plan will guide the on-the-ground implementation of restoration projects over the coming years.
Click here to download a PDF version of the draft Restoration Plan (4.4 MB)
Click here to download a PDF version of the Restoration Plan appendices (6 MB)
Click here to download a PDF version of the Project Maps (9.9 MB)
Click here to download a PDF version of the topographic survey (i.e., LiDAR) of the project area (3.9 MB)
The UDWC has identified an approximately 3,000 foot reach as a high priority for stream channel restoration and bank stabilization for property protection. This reach is identified in the draft Restoration Plan as “Action 31”. The Project Area is bounded on the upstream end by Highway 20 and on extends approximately 800 feet downstream of the Timber Creek Bridge.
A conceptual restoration design was developed for the Project Area - Action 31 Conceptual Restoration Design Plan (WPN 2009) (Conceptual Plan). This Conceptual Plan outlines a series of restoration actions that could be taken to improve stream function, enhance fish habitat, protect existing homes and reduce flooding.
Click here to download a PDF version of the Conceptual Plan (3.5MB)
Comments and Feedback
Your comments and feedback will allow us to develop a Restoration and Management plan that will address social issues along with key technical, policy and regulatory issues associated with stream restoration actions.
To provide comments and feeback, click here.
Background
Whychus Creek flows for nearly 40 miles from the crest of the Cascades to the Deschutes River in Deschutes County. The creek flows from its headwaters in the Three Sisters Wilderness, through the Deschutes National Forest, City of Sisters, private agricultural land and ultimately enters the Deschutes River upstream of Lake Billy Chinook. In May 2007, more than 200,000 steelhead trout were reintroduced into Whychus Creek as part of a regional effort to restore anadromous fish runs above the Pelton Round Butte Dam. This reintroduction effort has brought anadromous fish to the upper basin for the first time in more than 40 years, and has led to a significant effort to restore habitat, eliminate fish passage barriers and improve water quality in Whychus Creek.
As part of this watershed-scale restoration effort, the Watershed Council and the City of Sisters are working together to enhance and restore Whychus Creek in the developed reaches that flow through the City. Many decades of urban development have encroached upon the floodplain, resulting in some channelization and extensive use of rip-rap along the channel banks. These modifications have altered the hydrology, caued erosion, and impacted riparian conditions and fish habitat in Whychus Creek.
Approach
To begin to address these issues, the Watershed Council in partnership with the City of Sistes has hired the consulting firm Watershed Professionals Network (WPN) to develop a Restoration and Management Plan for the more urbanized reaches of Whychus Creek. The Plan will focus on the one-mile stretch of Whychus Creek that flows through the City of Sisters Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), as well as the portions of the creek that extend about 3/4 of a mile upstream of the UGB boundary and about two miles downstream of the UGB boundary.
The overall goal of the Restoration and Management Plan is to identify opportunities for habitat enhancement and restoration within the urbanized reaches of Whychus Creek. The Plan is intended to guide the restoration of key ecological functions and values of the creek, to better balance the physical and ecological needs of the creek and the aquatic organisms it supports, with the human needs of the growing city. A key component of our work will involve working with a team of technical advisors, as well as hearing the concerns of citizens and creek-side landowners, to make sure that we address key technical issues as well as the social, policy and regulatory issues associated with stream restoration actions.
If you would like more information, please click on the following link to review the detailed Scope of Work for the project:
Detailed Scope of Work (PDF File)
If you have any questions about the project in general, please feel free to contact Mathias Perle, Project Manager. Click here for contact information.