Restore fish to Oregon’s Sandy River Basin: Just add trees
April 25, 2014
On the evening of January 16, 2011, a soaking-wet Sunday in northwest Oregon, the Sandy River, engorged by snowmelt and hurricane-level rainfall, leapt its banks. The river tore through neighborhoods on the slopes of Mount Hood, devoured cars and trucks, and left hundreds without power or phone service. Lolo Pass Road was transformed into the Sandy’s new channel.
If any good came of the catastrophe, it was this: As the flood hurtled along, it uprooted dozens of trees and swept them downriver, where they eventually lodged against the pilings of a construction site at which the state was replacing two aging bridges. The massive raft of splintered, waterlogged debris couldn’t be used for much, but it was perfectly suited for one purpose – the creation of salmon habitat.
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