Video: Restoring Portland’s Home Basin: The Sandy River Basin

Between owls calling, cougars roaming and the splashing of spawning salmon, the Sandy River basin is alive. It hasn’t always been well.

A decade has passed since diligent, attentive work began to repair the impact of human actions taken in the 60s and 70s. A group of partners, including the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and The Freshwater Trust (TFT), agreed and witnessed how the removal of large woody debris, road construction, flood plain disconnection and clearcutting had led to negative consequences for water quality and habitat. The group also agreed that strategic action and collaborative funding could fix these problems. In 2010, TFT broke ground on the first restoration project in the Sandy with a goal of making it a home again for native fish species that had become endangered in the area they were once plentiful. Today, nearly three dozen projects have been implemented, along with other critical actions to improve stream function and future resilience.

On Thursday, November 19th, TFT and USFS hosted a virtual introduction to our restoration work and how it promotes resilience for the basin – and its communities. The presentation included a look at the impressive native fish returns we’ve seen on the Salmon River and Still Creek, and a question and answer with TFT Habitat Restoration Director Mark McCollister, TFT restoration monitoring coordinator Daniel Baldwin, USFS Fish Biologist Matthew Deangelo and USFS Fisheries Program Manager Bruce Zoellick.

Read the full transcript.