The Coquille Watershed Association assists landowners with restoring and improving stream habitat for salmon spawning, rearing and migration. These types of projects include improving fish access upsteam - such as culvert replacement, and/ or installing structure that fish and other aquatic life use for habitat.

Instream habitat projects aim to restore and enhance habitat for fish and other aquatic life by replacing "structure" that naturally would occur in the stream such as:

• large wood debris,
• boulders,
• weirs,
• slackwater areas,
• and ponds.

  

Once these structures are in place, natural stream processes create other desired habitat characteristics. For example, placement of large wood debris provides hiding places /pools for young fish, slows the flow rate, develops gravely spawning beds, and reduces the erosive energy of a stream.

Surveys: Sediment inputs into streams from poorly placed culverts, slumping road fills, or badly managed roads are a significant problem within the Coquille River watershed. This type of sediment input causes essential fisheries habitat, such as spawning gravel and pools, to fill and shallow. Road and Landing Surveys ,including culverts, are completed throughout entire sub-basins to determine status of erosion, fish passage, and other possible sediment problems.

Fish passage or access to upstream habitat is also a major part of the Coquille Watershed Association's efforts. Fish passage projects often involve removal or replacement of inaccessable culverts with fish-friendly models.

Culvert Replacements: In the past, culverts were installed with the main purpose of passing water under the roadways. Fish passage was not an issue in most cases. Many times the culverts were undersized, even for passage of water because the long-term life of the road was not considered. Also, designs to pass large flood events were not well thought out. On the other hand, many culverts were properly sized, but fish passage concerns were not an issue, so many pipes were placed too high, or at too steep of a grade to allow fish passage. The CWA completed a Culvert Evaluation survey in 1997 that assessed most of the County Road culverts within the Watershed.

Tidegates may also be addressed in fish passage projects. The purpose of a tidegate is to stop the flow of water into an estuarine tributary stream. They work by shutting during high tide to prevent backwater during the incoming tide from flooding the landowner's property. Tidegates are also usually associated with diked and dredged areas that are intended to prevent flooding and assist in field drainage. These tidegates were designed for functionality but not fish passage. Although they are not passage barriers 100% of the time they do block passage during high tides, which is often when the fish would be migrating up the system. These lowland estuarine systems are important juvenile rearing areas for several species of salmonids. They are also important over-wintering areas that provide refuge from high flows, as well as cover from predation, and cool fresh water areas during summer months.

The CWA completed a Tidegate evaluation in 1996. This evaluation assessed most of the tidegates in the lower Coquille valley. The evaluation looked at the fish passage potential and condition of the tidegates. Many were in disrepair and were not functioning well as tidegates, but in turn were only marginal barriers. Many of the tidegates that were in the best shape were the worst fish passage barriers. As a result of the surveys, two tidegates were picked as good pilot project candidates for replacement with a new “fish friendly” tidegate design. This design allows passage even during high tides.

The Coquille Watershed Association has installed over 180 instream structures and completed 23 culuvert replacements or retrofits, and replaced 2 tidegates.