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Ten Tips for Fish-Friendly Living

Ten Tips for Foresters

These suggestions are practical changes we can consider making in our daily lives to help salmon. This information does not substitute for any local, state or federal legal regulations. Reprinted with permission from the Oregon Governor’s Natural Resources Office at 503-378-3589.

1. Streamside trees
Grow and retain large conifers along streams. Streamside trees provide habitat, shade the waterway, stabilize streambanks, and provide a source of future large wood in the stream channel. Naturally fallen large wood can create the complex instream habitat essential for many fish and other aquatic organisms.

2. Native plants
Plant native plants on cutbanks, ditches and exposed soils. Vegetation can help stabilize banks and reduce the amount of sediment that erodes into streams. Excess sediment runoff into streams can carry pollutants, cover gravel spawning and rearing beds needed by salmon, and reduce the amount of oxygen available to fish and other aquatic life.

3. Relief culverts and water bars
Install cross-drain relief culverts and water bars on roads and skidroads. These help to reduce waters flowing directly down roads, which can cause erosion and carry sediments to streams. By diverting water from road surfaces and drainage ditches onto the forest floor, sediment can be filtered out of the water before it enters streams.

4. Debris and road-side material
Pull debris and road-side material away from steep forest slopes. Material left on slopes can send mass slides into the stream, blocking fish passage and increasing sediment loads.

5. Road degradation
Block dirt roads during wet weather. Preventing use during periods of high rain or snowmelt protects roads from degradation and reduces erosion.

6. Log hauling
Haul logs only on rocked roads in wet weather. It is best to limit harvest activity during extremely wet periods. However, hauling on roads surfaced with high-quality, clean rock can significantly can significantly reduce the amount of sediment that reaches streams.

7. Culverts
Replace culverts that block fish passage.* Poor design and sizing, improper installation, or lack of maintenance can cause culverts to block juvenile and adult fish from successfully reaching critical upstream or downstream habitat.

8. Instream wood and rocks
Place large wood and rocks in scoured or previously disturbed streams.* Artificial placement of rocks and logs can help recreate complex in-stream the structure needed to trap gravel and create pools; essential elements for salmon spawning and rearing habitat.

9. Off-channel fish habitat
Restore or create off-channel fish habitat (side channels).* Off-channel habitat is important to salmon, steelhead, and trout for feeding, resting and avoiding predators.

10. Your watershed council
Become an active member of your local watershed council. Watershed councils give the many landowners in a basin a place to share ideas and plans.

*Before beginning any type of instream or streamside restoration projects, consult the Oregon Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Guide-1998, or your local Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fisheries biologist.

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