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Living With the Methow River Monthly Activities and Learning Opportunities November 2014 A partial list of projects built this year or in planning include: M2 3R: This Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation project is nestled into the bank of the Methow River on a Methow Conservancy easement. The project includes an improved cold water alcove that is already being used by young salmon and trout and 3 log jams that provide deep water cover along the mainstem Methow. As soon as they were constructed, adult summer Chinook salmon, coho, and cutthroat moved into the log jams. Beaver Creek Fort Thurlow diversion dam: - Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation constructed a roughened channel over an old concrete irrigation dam, reestablishing fish passage into Beaver Creek. The roughened channel mimics a natural channel and is designed to provide a stable point of diversion for irrigators while insuring fish passage for steelhead, bull trout, and coho salmon. MVID Instream Flow Improvement Project: This Trout Unlimited project upgrades two ailing irrigation canals and significantly improves instream flow in the Twisp River for spring Chinook, steelhead, and bull trout by eliminating a diversion on the Twisp River and converting the east side MVID open canal to a pipeline. Twisp River Floodplain: Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation is developing a project that will rehabilitate habitat in the area that has been the MVID headgate and fish screen located about 4 miles up the Twisp River. Construction could begin in late 2015. Barkley Irrigation Project: This Trout Unlimited project eliminates the need for irrigators to use bulldozers to build partial dams in the Methow River by moving the irrigation intake to a pump station 1.5 miles downstream. 1890s Side Channel: The Yakama Nation is putting the finishing touches on a ground water fed side channel just north of the town of Twisp. The channel occupies a channel that used to be a perennial channel of the Methow prior to the 1948 flood and construction of Highway 20. The newly watered up channel should provide habitat for juvenile spring Chinook and possibly spawning habitat for steelhead. Silver Side Channel: Columbia Cascades Fish Enhancement Group is developing a side-channel restoration project that will enhance habitat conditions in a major spring-fed remnant channel of the Methow River. The project would benefit juvenile Chinook, steelhead, coho and possibly lamprey. For more information on any of these projects, please call Jennifer Molesworth at 509-997-0028.
This year’s MRC calendar connects to ADVENTURES, ACTIVITIES AND INFORMATION tailored to each month. If you haven't gotten your calendar yet, you can download an electronic version here. Come back each month and find interactive activities, print outs, and suggested learning opportunities in our community.
Just follow the fish and engage in learning.
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