Dike breach offers salmon and steelhead new habitat

With BPA financial support, a private landowner in Columbia County, Ore. has breached a Columbia River dike allowing river water to once again, fill a historical tidal wetland.

The 60-acre property known as Batwater Station is located north of Rainier on the Oregon side of the Columbia River near Crims Island. The property is home to endangered Columbian white-tailed deer, painted turtles, red-legged frogs and many types of birds. And now since the breach, juvenile salmon and steelhead can also call the tidal wetland home.

“I’m really excited about watching this project come together,” says property owner Karin Hunt. “I’ve wanted to improve the wetland since 1995 and now it’s finally happening.”

With money from BPA along with help from the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, the Lower Columbia River Watershed Council and the Columbia Soil Water & Conservation District, Hunt has returned approximately 26 acres of her property back to a tidal wetland.

With money from BPA along with help from the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, the Lower Columbia River Watershed Council and the Columbia Soil Water & Conservation District, Hunt has returned approximately 26 acres of her property back to a tidal wetland.

“When you think about it, every juvenile salmon and steelhead from the Columbia and Snake rivers goes by here. So this habitat and others in the area we’ve restored can have a big impact on their survival,” says Jenni Dykstra, a field restoration ecologist with the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership. “Tidal wetlands like this give small fish a place to rest, eat, grow and hide from predators before going to sea. We think it makes a big difference.”

Before construction began this summer, project partners completed two years of hydrological studies to ensure that a reconnected wetland would work. Construction crews then carved at least 1000 feet of new tidal channels complete with logs strategically placed to attract beaver. Then in mid-August, a large track hoe removed 85 feet of the 70-year-old dike and the river water flowed in.

Approximately 95 percent of Columbia County is privately owned, so finding landowners who are willing to breach dikes for fish and wildlife isn’t easy.

“Landowners have to believe that they’re doing the right thing for the environment,” says Margaret Magruder, coordinator for the Lower Columbia River Watershed Council. “Yes, we want landowners, but we only want them as long were not intruding on them or upsetting economic livelihoods and cultural traditions.”

Hunt’s home is near the wetland so she’s excited to see what types of fish and wildlife the wetland will attract. She says this is just her small way of helping the local environment.

“You might even call it good karma. I’m giving back to mother earth after she has been so good to us,” she says.