Beavers: Nature’s first river restoration engineers

May 242013
 

Beavers have been enlisted in restoration efforts in Methow Valley, Washington. Photo courtesy of NOAA.

By Lauren Senkyr

Once numbering up to 400 million in North America, beavers were hunted to near extinction in the 19th century.  While it has long been known that their fur makes excellent clothing and top hats, the role of beavers in maintaining healthy river ecosystems was less well understood until recently.

The Methow Beaver Project is an excellent example of how beavers are now being used to enhance stream habitat to benefit endangered salmon and threatened steelhead trout in the Pacific Northwest.  Funded in part by the Ecotrust-led Whole Watershed Restoration Initiative, the project is restoring wetland and riparian habitat by relocating nuisance beavers to creeks within the Methow watershed in the Upper Columbia River Basin in Eastern Washington.

Beavers have been enlisted in restoration efforts in Methow Valley, Washington. Photo courtesy of NOAA.

Beavers have been enlisted in restoration efforts in Methow Valley, Washington. Ecotrust photo by Cameron Harrison.

Sometimes the fact that beavers dam up water, cut down trees, and flood riverbanks is seen as a problem.  Not everyone wants busy beavers in their backyard!  But these same activities that beavers do so well are exactly what river restoration professionals have been trying to emulate for decades to improve habitat for Pacific salmon species, which co-evolved with beavers over millenia.  Adding wood to streams, creating backwatered areas, and reconnecting a stream with its floodplain are frequently the very same objectives of river restoration projects.  For this reason, beaver reintroduction is identified as a priority action in the multi-agency Upper Columbia Spring Chinook Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Plan. The Methow Beaver Project is relocating beavers from places where they are seen as a problem, and moving them to places where they can be part of the solution to salmon recovery.

A video about the projects is below.

So far fourteen new beaver colonies have been established and an additional three are being monitored to determine their long-term viability. This ten-year project aims to establish 50 new beaver colonies within the Methow Watershed.  Since it began in 2008, the project’s success rate for establishing beaver colonies has increased by over 30% compared to other similar efforts in the Western United States.

The project has restored over 44 acres of wetland habitat at a fraction of the cost of typical construction-based restoration techniques.  Over time, the acres of restored habitat will continue to expand as the watershed processes created by beavers improve wetland, stream and riparian habitat both upstream and downstream of the relocation sites.  Over the long-term, it is expected that this project will result in over 1,000 acres of habitat improvement.

The project is led by the Methow Conservancy, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. The NOAA Restoration Center and the U.S. Forest Service provide financial support through the Whole Watershed Restoration Initiative.  Other project partners include Washington Department of Energy, Yakama Nation, Priest Rapids Coordinating Committee, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and many dedicated volunteers, private landowners, and local residents.

Lauren Senkyr is a habitat restoration specialist with NOAA’s Restoration Center in Portland, Oregon.

Inside the clam gardens, a source of coastal sustenance

Mar 262013
 

Clam gardening was a form of aquaculture practiced by Native people on the coast of what is today British Columbia. The gardens were a key source of sustenance and also a hedge against inevitable fluctuations in regional salmon runs. In the following story, Kwakwaka’wakw Clan Chief Adam Dick, known by his traditional name Kwaxsistalla, travels back to the clam gardens off the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, where his grandparents raised food and passed down a huge body of traditional ecological knowledge. The journey here is a journey into the living reaches of Kwaxsistalla’s knowledge.  He is a 2011 Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award honoree; his partner, Kim Recalma‐Clutesi, was the top awardee in 2010.

Read the story>>

Kwaxsistalla in the clam gardens. Photo by Nancy Turner.

Kwaxsistalla in the clam gardens. Photo by Nancy Turner.

Video: Billy Frank Jr. and the River of Kings

Mar 052013
 

An unusual coalition of tribal leaders, private partners and government agencies is working to restore Washington’s Nisqually River from its source in the glaciers of Mount Rainier to the estuary that empties into Puget Sound. Led by the Nisqually tribe, the restoration aims to fill the river once again with abundant, magnificent wild salmon.  New documentaries in the Saving the Ocean series by filmmakers Chedd-Angier and hosted by renowned scientist Carl Safina track the progress of the Nisqually and their  top salmon advocate, Billy Frank Jr.

Watch the River of Kings episodes below.

 

Billy Frank, Jr. fishing the Nisqually River in 1973.

River of Kings, Part 1


River of Kings, Part 2

Restoration=Jobs

Aug 312012
 

While the presidential contenders argue about where the jobs of the future will come from, there’s no debate about this: watershed restoration and similar activities throughout Oregon are creating serious employment and economic growth right now.  In a new study, Ecotrust has found that restoration projects in the state generated $977.5 million in economic activity and as many as 6,483 jobs between 2001 and 2010.

A Northwest road being decommissioned. Courtesy Bengt Coffin, USFS.

Much of the activity has come in rural communities that are in the midst of a long-term employment crisis, with measured unemployment rates up to twice the national average. This ongoing employment crisis has undermined local tax bases, leading to the collapse of vital public services and infrastructure. The lack of local opportunities, and the resulting brain and youth drain to urban centers, threatens to unravel the social and cultural fabric that has defined many rural communities for generations.

“Restoration can drive economic development and job creation, particularly in rural communities that have suffered from persistently high unemployment rates,” says Spencer B. Beebe, president and founder of Ecotrust. “And, unlike in many other sectors of our economy, restoration jobs can’t be outsourced to far-off places.”

The investments in restoration have created jobs for construction workers, landscapers, heavy equipment operators, and technical experts such as engineers and wildlife biologists. And the projects also create demand for local businesses, such as plant nurseries, quarries, and others.

Restoring habitat also benefits the economy in the long term. Habitat improvements intended to bolster fish runs promise to increase sport and commercial fishing opportunities in the coming years — already big business in Oregon. So investments in ecosystem restoration can be seen as the first steps in the evolution of a new natural resource economy.

“Habitat restoration jobs pay dividends twice, first in creating good, local jobs immediately, and then, for many decades to come, through increased benefits from fisheries, tourism and resiliency for coastal communities,” said Eric Schwaab, assistant administrator for fisheries for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA provides technical expertise and funding to restore coastal, marine, and migratory fish habitat in Oregon and around the nation.

Bob Carlin Sr. and son, Bob Jr., take a break from restoration work on Sucker Creek in Southern Oregon. Photo:Sam Beebe, Ecotrust.

A recent national study published in Marine Policy analyzing job creation and other economic impacts from NOAA restoration projects found that an average of 17 jobs were created for $1 million invested. That rate of job creation is significantly higher than other industries, including coal, natural gas, or road and bridge construction.

Congressman Earl Blumenhauer, who represents Oregon’s 3rd district and recently introduced HR 6249, the “Water Protection and Reinvestment Act,” a bill that calls for investment in clean water infrastructure across the nation, commented: “For too long, we have treated our rivers and waterways like machines to the detriment of water quality and quantity. Investing in restoration not only improves habitat for fish and wildlife, it creates jobs and bring much needed revenue to local communities. Oregon has tremendous opportunities for restoration that can serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”

A recent University of Oregon report found that an average of 90 cents of every dollar spent on restoration stays in the state, and 80 cents of every dollar spent stays in the county where a project is located. For example, of the nearly $400,000 invested to restore Little Butte Creek in Southern Oregon from 2009–2011, 72 percent was spent in Jackson County, and 97 percent was expended in Oregon. Over half of those dollars went to salaries that directly benefit Oregonians.

Mike Herrick, Owner of Aquatic Contracting said, “Over the last 10 years, restoration projects have allowed us to provide a sustainable living for our employees. They can use their skills in construction and feel good about what they are doing. We have grown from just a couple of employees to as many as 20. Without restoration funding, we would not be able to provide these opportunities and support the local economies where we work.”

Kickstarting social innovations

Jul 302012
 

Spreading those killer social innovations can be tough. There’s rarely enough money to support the ventures, the marketplace needs to take a leap of faith and if the government is involved, well, things are slow.  We’ve had our share of all of these frustrations and more here at Ecotrust. But early on we saw that raising investment capital with a venture tint to it — high-risk, high-return — was crucial to making innovation fly.

We raised money for our Natural Capital Center building and for ventures in ecotourism, emerging technology and progressive media through our Natural Capital Fund. That fund also matched investment from ShoreBank of Chicago in the social and environmental banking venture, ShoreBank Pacific — now part of One PacificCoast Bank. And we attracted three dozen private investors to back Ecotrust Forests, a fund which derives financial returns as well as environmental and social benefits from 12,000 acres of forestland in the Pacific Northwest.

All of this was early impact investing.

This week we’re watching with intrigue as our friends at the Hood River, Ore.-based Farmer’s Conservation Alliance are beginning an innovative capital raising move that — although it doesn’t offer the financial returns of true impact investing — promises to push social innovation financing forward.

FCA builds innovative screening devices to keep endangered fish out of irrigation canals and they’ve announced a $1.5 million growth capital campaign that promises tangible benefits for each “unit” purchased in the campaign — something like buying a share. Each of thirty $25,000 shares bought will open up 36 river miles to safe fish passage, deliver 1.5 Megawatts of green, fish-friendly hydro power driven by irrigation water and will enable $66,125 in savings annually by landowners, mainly in avoided maintenance costs on irrigation canals. The group is also offering eight hundred $1,000 shares.

One of the Farmers Conservation Alliance screens at work. Fish and debris take the right chute and water spills down through the screen and flows out to the left. Courtesy of FCA.

The details are in a prospectus, drawn up with the help of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, the national community development bank and consultants.

FCA’s technology has potentially broad application. There are 300,000 water diversions across the country and an estimated 75% are unscreened, endangering fish that could be pulled out of rivers and into irrigation canals, and also leaving canals open to leaves, sticks and other clogging debris. FCA has installed just 25 screens from Oregon to Wyoming and already they estimate they’ve saved landowners close to $500,000 in maintenance costs.

But installing FCA’s patented technology  — which shoots fish and debris over the top of a screen that allows water to fall vertically into irrigation canals — is a long process of government permits and design approvals from public agencies. That’ll be shortened by a recent approval of the FCA device by the National Marine Fisheries Service. But the Hood River group needs bridge capital to push its innovation forward, and that’s where the new investment will help.

Leaves running over a Farmers Screen.

“We’re sort of like a pharmaceutical drug going through the approval process,” says FCA director Julie Davies O’Shea. “We need this capital because our project timelines are long.”

The group grew out of technology developed by farmers in the Hood River Farmer’s Irrigation District. The inventors licensed the screen design with the stipulation that FCA market it widely and reinvest profits in similar social ventures that will help rural areas.

Still in the early stages of revenue generation, Davies O’Shea says the current capital push will eventually allow the group to tip its venture to profitability, and then begin to spread the wealth to other rural ventures.  That’s what we call impact.

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