WHITE CITY, Ore. (AP) — In Southern Oregon near Medford, bulldozers are at work in a wildlife area. They’re returning a tributary of the Rogue River to its natural winding self.
That will reverse the engineering work of the 1950s, when bulldozers raised berms along Little Butte Creek and created a straight shot through the area. At the time, the argument was that the meandering stream contributed to erosion during a massive flood.
But the channeled stream also meant that coho salmon had no place for refuge in high flows. The new channel will re-create those conditions.
Half of the $700,000 for the work comes from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, and the rest is from a variety of other grants.