Changing Landscapes—the Karnowsky Creek Project
"The Karnowsky Creek Restoration Project involves us in a vast cycle in which we are only implementing
the most recent stages of change. No one knows how long it really took the Siuslaw Watershed to assume
its current shape and size, but we know it passed through many stages of transformation before the
first humans arrived, settling here some 10,000 years ago."
Johnny Sundstrom
Chairman
Siuslaw Soil and Water Conservation District
"The Karnowsky Creek Restoration Project has brought out the best in people-private
landowners, nonprofit partners, the Forest Service, and the local community-to, in essence create a
new beginning: taking the creek from its altered state and allowing its natural sinuosity to prevail
once again, providing habitat improvements for native fish and wildlife. In the brief period of time
since the project's inception, we are simply amazed at how the aquatic species have responded. We
believe the Karnowsky family would be heartened by the results."
Bill Possiel
President
National Forest Foundation
The Background
The Coast and Cascade Mountain forests of Oregon are part of a
larger maritime ecosystem that extends from Northern California to the Alaska panhandle. Highly
productive coniferous forests dominate this area with topography and elevation being the primary
factors that affect local weather patterns. These weather patterns in turn determine the amount of
precipitation available.
![[Photo]: Karnowsky Creek winds through native grasses on alt sunny day.](/common/images/karnowsky1.jpg)
Karnowsky Creek is one of many small, complex tributaries that
flow into the Siuslaw River Estuary, a mere nine miles from the Pacific Ocean on the Central Oregon
coast. These tributaries and the surrounding watershed comprise critical habitat centers for numerous
terrestrial and aquatic species, including salmon, black bear, bobcat, elk, deer, and many birds.
Karnowsky Creek also reveals the impact historical land uses and the dynamic effects nature can have
on the ecology of an area. Years of clear-cutting for farming and logging, harsh winters, and
devastating floods wreaked havoc on the delicate ecosystem over time. Only one English walnut remains
as a witness to those settlers who tried to control the creek and the land around it.
In the fall of 2000, two Forest Service watershed specialists,
Karen Bennett and Johan Hagervorst walked the Karnowsky Valley with Pete Barrell, executive director
of the Siuslaw Watershed Council. While hiking along the lower Siuslaw River where Karnowsky Creek
joins the estuary, they noticed that the creek looked less like a creek and much more like a wetland.
The hillsides surrounding the area had been clear-cut in recent years and replanted with fir trees.
This visual contrast prompted them to wonder, what had happened to Karnowsky Creek?
![[Photo]: The Karnowsky family in front of their homestead, late 1880s.](/common/images/karnowsky2.jpg)
After delving into the history of the area and with assistance
from Bennett and Hagervorst, Barrell uncovered the answer. In the late 1880s, early settlers to the
area had successfully moved the creek to the side of the valley in order to clear the land for cattle
grazing. And while the Forest Service had acquired the land in 1992, the grazing had continued up until
then. On their descent, the small group began sharing ideas about the possibilities for restoring the
creek to its former natural state. As a designer with a landscape architecture background, Barrell
became intrigued with the notion of restoring the landscape.
"The Karnowsky Creek valley bottom landscape is a typical example of
the contemporary condition of Oregon Coastal valley bottoms. Most have been drained and cleared in an
attempt to create viable productive agriculture lands. Most exist today as mono-habitats that are void
of the ecological complexity that once supported a broad spectrum of indigenous species," Barrell said.
"Because of the single land ownership of most of the Karnowsky valley bottom (Forest Service ownership),
this project stood out as an opportunity to take a community approach to a restoration design challenge
that would have meaning for landscapes far beyond the Siuslaw. The opportunities for dramatic restoration
change were evident, and through a process of restoration design development that would bring together an
interdisciplinary team of natural resource professionals, Karnowsky offered the landscape template where
this cutting edge process and outlook toward restoration could unfold."
With funding help from the Forest Service, six landscape architect
students were enlisted for an eight-week period during the summer of 2001 to focus on producing a
restoration design proposal, together with a grant proposal to fund the restoration efforts. The team
gathered a wealth of historical, ecological, and restoration design information and data for
incorporation into the final document. "That summer's design experience provided a foundation, a
beginning from which this vision of renewal at Karnowsky Creek began," commented Barrell.
The Project
The Karnowsky Creek project exemplifies how critical partnerships
can be to overall project design and implementation. By combining the interests of local communities,
state and federal governments, nonprofit partners, and the talents and enthusiasm of high school and
university students, this vision of a "whole" watershed approach can be made into reality.
It is exactly the kind of partnership that the NFF aims to foster
throughout its geographic focus areas: building and catalyzing local efforts in forest stewardship.
![[Photo]: Re-channeling Karnowsky Creek with a backhoe.](/common/images/karnowsky3.jpg)
A partnership between the Forest Service, Siuslaw Soil and Water
Conservation District, and the Siuslaw Watershed Council took the students' proposal and applied for and
received grants of $350,000 to restore more than two miles of stream channel and its adjacent wetlands,
floodplains and tidally influenced areas. Both the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and the NFF provided
funding for Phase I of the project, with the Forest Service contributing funds for planning, design, and
project management.
![[Photo]: Volunteers planting trees at Karnowsky Creek.](/common/images/karnowsky4.jpg)
Local people have joined in as volunteers and partners to implement
the restoration plan; planting riparian trees, shrubs, and wetland vegetation. In addition, Paula Crowder
of the Siuslaw Institute, actively engaged students from the Mapleton School District in growing native
plants on campus and planting them in the project area. The Mapelton students also helped by collecting
water quality samples and monitoring ground water wells throughout the project area.
The project is expected to extend chum salmon habitat by allowing tidal influence back into the bottom half
mile of the project area. Further upstream, coho salmon will rear in the slower moving waters of the new
channel, adjacent ponds and floodplain during the summer and the winter. Further upstream still, a much
steeper part of the stream will be restored to provide spawning opportunities for coho.
On a recent visit to Karnowsky Creek, this writer was struck by the natural path the little streams and
tributaries took over the landscape. Where once there was grassy pasture, now there is water and salmon
and birds and the fresh shoots of native shrubs and trees. And while it is no longer home to the Karnowsky
family, it is home again to the species with which they once shared the land. Karen Bennett, an original
visionary for the project, characterizes the effort this way: "If we can't tell the story of restoration
through the Karnowsky Creek project, we can't tell it anywhere."
For more information, contact:
Pete Barrell
Siuslaw Watershed Council
PO Box 422
Mapleton, OR 97453
541-268-3044 (phone & fax)
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PARTNERING WITH THE FOREST SERVICE
