Dan Mason from the USDA National Genomics Center presented on Using eDNA to understand fish distribution in the Hood River Watershed and across the Western U.S.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling for fish in streams is the collection of DNA released by a target species into the water. Scientists at the U.S. Forest Service’s National Genomics Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservation have pioneered developments in this field. Dan Mason, with the National Genomics Center, describes how and why eDNA for fish is collected, along with results from bull trout and Pacific lamprey data in the Hood River Watershed and beyond.

Watch the recording here.

Watch a recording of our January presentation on Forest Collaboratives: Building Partnerships between the Community & Forest Service.

Forest collaboratives work to build partnerships and increase trust between the Forest Service and diverse stakeholder groups. Across the Pacific Northwest, forest collaboratives have developed agreements around shared goals and increased the pace, scale, and quality of watershed and forest restoration across public and private lands. This has been accomplished through engaging a diverse set of stakeholders in planning, evaluating, and monitoring projects using a science-based and holistic approach. Watch this presentation by Andrew Spaeth, facilitator for the Hood River Forest Collaborative and Wasco County Forest Collaborative, to learn more about forest collaboratives and the accomplishments of our local groups.

Watch a recording of the Neal Creek Phase 1 Habitat Restoration Project presentation.

Neal Creek is an important clearwater (non-glacial) tributary to the lower Hood River, which provides habitat for threatened winter steelhead, threatened coho salmon, cutthroat trout, and resident rainbow trout. Over the past 100 years, numerous human activities have altered the Neal Creek Watershed through logging practices, relocating stream channels, and placing roads and buildings in its floodplain. This has resulted in stream channels with fewer pools, less spawning gravel and instream wood, and reduced side channel habitat. Fortunately, there are opportunities to restore sections of Neal Creek to provide better fish habitat and aid in the recovery of steelhead and coho.

The Hood River Watershed Group, in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs and private landowners, has been developing a series of restoration projects along Neal Creek that aim to restore the ecological processes of the Neal Creek Watershed and ensure the health and viability of ESA-listed salmonid populations with the improvement of spawning, rearing, and overwintering habitat. The first phase of this work was completed in August of 2021 and restored approximately 1/2 mile and two acres of habitat by constructing six log jams, creating 14 pools, and adding over 100 logs back into Neal Creek.

The project was funded by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, and Pacific Power Blue Sky Habitat Funds/The Freshwater Trust, and was designed by Parr Excellence. Alix Danielsen, the Hood River Watershed Group Restoration Project Manager, and Bill Norris, the project engineer with Parr Excellence, will provide an overview of the project and discuss future work planned along Neal Creek.

View a recording of Lindsay Cornelius’ “The Oregon White Oak: A Survivor and a Savior” presentation from June 22nd.

Oregon white oak are abundant in our region, perceived by many to be prolific, unattractive, weedy, and indestructible. In fact, Oregon white oak habitat across its entire extent has diminished by nearly 97% since European settlement – and we are the stewards of what remains. Oak systems are one of the most biodiverse, climate resilient habitats in our region. They are fire resistant and provide important benefits to the people who live here.

More than 200 individuals from agencies, nations, businesses, organizations, and the general public volunteered thousands of hours over the last three years interviewing stakeholders, learning from presenters, mapping and modeling oak systems, and testing logic models to create a strategic action plan for oak conservation that the East Cascades Oak Partnership (ECOP) will work to implement over the next decade. Lindsay Cornelius, Columbia Land Trust Natural Area Manager and the Manager of the East Cascades Oak Partnership, shares the story of Oregon white oak in the East Cascades, including important insights on the value of oak systems and how the East Cascades Oak Partnership can help each of us advance oak conservation in a meaningful way.

Watch a recording of the East Fork Hood River Habitat Enhancement Project presentation by Bill Norris on March 23rd, 2021.

In 2019 the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs sponsored a habitat restoration project on the lower East Fork Hood River along private property in Parkdale, OR. This project promotes floodplain and off-channel habitat connectivity by splitting flows through side channels to create more diverse habitat conditions. The project included 11 large wood structures that improve juvenile rearing and adult holding and spawning habitat for winter steelhead, coho salmon, and spring Chinook salmon. The project was funded through BPA and designed by Inter-Fluve and Parr Excellence. Bill Norris, the project engineer with Parr Excellence, provides an overview of the project and discusses how the project is faring after a winter of high flows.