This story was originally published on LincolnChronicle.org and is used with permission.
Rumors that crews have been clearing land alongside U.S. Highway 101 just south of Lincoln City to build a Costco are greatly exaggerated.
The recently completed construction phase that scalped a slice of land between the highway and South Drift Creek Road is actually part of a $1.5 million project to restore natural tidal wetland habitat on 37 acres of the 578-acre Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The primary goal of the project is to assist coho and chinook salmon recovery and bolster habitat for other native fish, birds and wildlife.
The project is spearheaded by the MidCoast Watersheds Council and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which say that beyond aiding fish and wildlife, the project delivers vital “ecosystem services” by establishing nature-based solutions to environmental challenges.
The revived wetlands will act as a natural buffer against shoreline erosion and flooding, absorb excess runoff, trap sediment, filter pollutants and store carbon. The restoration is also designed to withstand longer-term shifts in the environment.
“We are restoring habitat for immediate use by fish and wildlife species, but we are also incorporating the latest science about sea level rise and climate change so these habitats continue to be productive well into our very uncertain future,” said Cheryl Horton, the watershed council’s estuary program manager. “This includes restoration of scrub and spruce swamp habitat, once very common along the Oregon Coast and now over 90 percent eliminated.”
Prior to the excavation work, the land was covered in invasive vegetation such as reed canary grass, a pasture grass that creates a monoculture preventing native plants from growing. There were also straight agricultural drainage ditches that had to be filled so that new, channel networks could be braided across the site to replicate natural conditions.
The project, which took more than eight years to plan and finance, is a collaboration between MidCoast, the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, Wild Salmon Center, the Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District, Wolf Water Resources, BCI Contracting and a slew of funders and supporters.
The project is the second phase of the Lower Drift Creek tidal wetland restoration. In 2023, phase one was completed on two refuge tracts totaling 41 acres east of Drift Creek Road. During that $1 million initial phase, crews lowered 3,100 feet of perimeter dikes and dug more than a mile of channels to reconnect the natural floodplain. While phase one addressed isolated acreage with dikes surrounded by water, project leaders noted that phase two presented a far more intricate challenge.
“The work during phase one was pretty straightforward, we brought in crews from other refuges and it was a great learning experience for our operators …” said Kate Iaquinto, project leader for the Oregon Coast refuge complex. “We always knew phase two would be more complex …”
Because the phase two site was wetter and directly bordered highway infrastructure, crews faced a complex startup process that included closing off a 12-foot box culvert that let tidal water flow under the highway, removing juvenile fish, and getting water out of the site before beginning excavation.
Portland-based BCI Contracting, which specializes in wetland rehabilitation, and refuge operators then filled the ditches and scraped away the invasive grass. Specialized machinery, including a floating excavator equipped with pontoons, was used to dig networks of secondary channels based on historical hydrology data.
To enhance cover and food for fish and perching space for birds, crews anchored woody debris – including trees with root wads – throughout the channels and floodplain. The timber was acquired through a salvage grant and used logs from the Oregon State University’s dorm site in South Beach, blowdowns on BLM-managed roads, and from the 2020 Echo Mountain fire in Otis.
“They will create nurse logs, create habitat,” Horton said. “One of our mantras is ‘More wood, more good.’ The more we get on site, the better it is for the fish and wildlife species out here. And it’s really a great program because landowners get a tax benefit and we’re able to pay local haulers to bring wood to the restoration site. So, it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Now to phase two
With the excavation work complete, the project transitions into its planting phase. Crews from the Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District, joined by volunteers, will sow native seeds before the rainy season begins, when they will then start planting native root-stock including salt-resilient spruce and willow cuttings.
“We’ve collected willow cuttings from the project area for the last few years, and propagated those at the shared Beaver Creek conservation nursery,” said MidCoast restoration specialist Carrie Wyler. “It’s very important to use locally collected species for restoration, including plants with coastal genetics. It ensures better survival and resilience is baked into the genes.”
Spruce seeds are also collected from areas with some saltwater influence and nurtured for planting.
“Spruce swamp restoration is pretty new, and we’re working on the cutting edge of some new techniques to bring back this vitally important habitat,” Wyler added.
There are different kinds of tidal wetland habitats, notes Horton, who is managing the restoration project with Iaquinto. There are marshy plants like grasses and sedges, scrub habitats like willow, twin berry and crab apple that can take a bit of saltwater, and the spruce swamp.
“And with 90 percent of that lost on the Oregon coast, a big portion of the work that we’re doing in our tidal wetlands and our estuaries is to restore that habitat type,” Horton said. “To do that, we create what’s called topographic diversity. So, within elevations, kind of like rolling topography. And the higher topography supports the shrubby and forest plant species.”
Juvenile salmon will use the habitat, along with saltwater fish and crabs. Some fish species were already using the site, Iaquinto said, but they were very degraded. Beaver may also be attracted to the area and workers have seen deer and elk tracks throughout the course of the project along with herons and killdeer, which nested and fledged.
“The other important thing is the connection to the floodplain,” Horton said. “In the winter, the site will mostly be underwater. And that allows fish to spread out and consume more food. And that also why the wood is here, because that creates places for them to hide and brings in terrestrial food. And a lot of scientific studies have found that salmon in particular that are raised in estuaries go out to the ocean at a larger size than those raised up in our streams. And size in the ocean corresponds to survival. So, they contribute a greater portion to the returns that we get back, which is why tidal wetlands are really important to salmon recovery.”
If you think of all the bugs that live in the grass, Iaquinto added, when that water comes in the fish get access to them and it creates a big buffet. The network of various-sized channels now carved into the land also ensures that when water retreats, no fish are left stranded.
80 percent rehabilitated
When phase two of the project is complete, roughly 80 percent of the Siletz Bay estuary will be restored to its natural tidal function.
While most of the homes adjacent to the second phase of the project are on higher ground, one is in the tidal zone. A berm that will be planted with trees was built around the house and a ditch dug so if water does get in, it drains back to the wetland, Iaquinto said.
Neighbors living in low-lying areas adjacent to the first phase of the project were contacted, provided feedback and expressed concerns about possible flooding once the protective dikes were removed.
“They worry when they hear things like you’re going to remove a levee, that it’s going to mean more water in their backyard,” Iaquinto said. “But what we’ve actually seen with phase one is there is actually water in their backyard a lot less time. So there is flooding before the project and there is flooding after the project.
“What phase one has done is helped the water to move more efficiently through the areas that it does on a very high tide,” she added. “It comes in faster and it goes out faster and sits around for a lot less time. So I think the neighbors on that side would say there’s a benefit.”
Something many people do not understand is how many laws dictate what must be done when considering these projects, Iaquinto said. Everything must be cleared from a cultural resources and endangered species perspective and environmental impact and flooding. And because the work is taking place on a national wildlife refuge, there are stricter rules than most other types of public lands.
Planning for the project and working with the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians began in 2018. It was a project in a host of plans that included the Siletz coho strategic action plan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s comprehensive conservation plan for refuges, and Oregon’s wildlife action plan.
The bulk of funding comes from federal, state and private grants along with in-kind support from all the partners.
The MidCoast Watersheds Council is a Newport-based nonprofit that has been working for 25 years to protect and restore nearly one million acres on the central Oregon coast. In addition to the refuge work, MidCoast is tackling habitat projects on Poole Slough in Yaquina Bay and Lobster Creek in the Alsea River basin, has 15 projects in the hopper and is working on 90 grants.
“One important message is on the coast we have small organizations, small staffs, so we can’t do anything alone and so these collaborative projects are essential,” Horton said. “When we are able to work together as a team, we’re able to really get good things to happen out here on the ground.”
Iaquinto said the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex with its six refuges – Three Arch Rock, Cape Meares, Nestucca Bay, Siletz Bay, Oregon Islands and Bandon Marsh spanning from Tillamook Head to the California border – is managed by five staff members.
“So we can’t achieve our mission without working with others,” Iaquinto said. “And part of the purpose of this national wildlife refuge is to restore the Siletz Bay estuary. And as mentioned before, when this project is done, 80 percent of the estuary will have been restored. So that’s really huge. We’re making really big gains.”