April 21, 2014 OWEB Grant Cycle

Southwest Oregon Review Team (Region 2)

Application No.: 215-2000 Project Type: Restoration
Project Name: China Camp Creek Project
Applicant: Beaver Slough Drainage District
Basin: SOUTH COAST County: Coos
OWEB Request: $515,000.00 Total Cost: $1,528,500.00


Application Description
The Beaver Slough Drainage District (BSDD) was formed in 1906, and encompasses over 1,700 acres tidally
influenced land west of Coquille, Oregon. It is bounded by the Coquille River on the south; and Highway
42N and Beaver Slough/North Bank Road Lane to the north. A small portion of the Garden Valley area, east
of Highway 42N, is also included. The purpose of the District is to provide and maintain the infrastructure
necessary to protect the area from high tide cycles and facilitate drainage for the individually owned parcels
within. Antiquated tide gate infrastructure comprised of corrugated metal pipe culverts with wooden lids
provide poor aquatic connectivity between 1700 acres of floodplain and the Coquille River impacting winter
refugia for juvenile coho salmon and leading to poor water quality in internal ditches and sloughs during the
winter months.

The applicant proposes to remove the old tidegate infrastructure and install a new structure comprised of a
reinforced concrete structure containing seven 10x8 side- hinge tide gate doors, equipped with a state of the
art muted tidegate regulator structure. The new facilities will improve opportunities for juvenile Coho to
access 1700 acres of channel floodplain refugia during the fall through spring period, restore partial
hydrological function via a muted tidal regime to 400 acres being restored to a historic scrub-forested
wetland area, improve water quality in flood plain canals sloughs during summer months and maintain
viability of existing agricultural operators on 1300 acres.

Project partners include USF&WS Coastal Wetlands Program and Beaver Slough Drainage District. OWEB
funds would be used for contracted services, supplies and materials and grant administration.

REVIEW PROCESS

Regional Review Team Evaluation
The project is a resubmit from several years ago. The project was originally submitted in 2010. The project
has evolved to the point that the original application bears little resemblance to the current scope of project
work. The RRT discussion also included historic conditions, land ownership and management, tidegate
mechanics and water management.

While the proposal before OWEB is for tidegate replacement, the RRT felt they could not discuss
this component without discussing and considering the stream and riparian restoration components
as well. The project will impact 3 units. Units 1 and 3 are agricultural units and will be managed for
agricultural purposes. These two units comprise 1,300 acres. Unit 2 is the restoration unit and will
be managed primarily for ecological benefits. Unit 2 is 400 acres. The majority of funds required to
under-take the restoration of the stream and riparian areas in Unit 2 have been secured primarily
through a previous Coastal Wetlands grant (OWEB #211-115). The majority of funds required to
implement the current application proposal to replace the tidegates are not secured and are separate
from the funds associated with project #211-115.

Under this proposal all three Units will be impacted by the proposed tidegate work. There will be three
tidegate arrays (7 tidegates total), and all will have Muted Tidegate Regulators. These tidegates would
regulate the water flows in all three units. Units 1 & 3 are agricultural land. Unit 2 is the lands that would see
stream and riparian restoration activities. Units 1 and 3 will be separated from Unit 2 by berms. Outside
arrays will feed major canals to agricultural lands and the center array will feed Unit 2 restoration areas.

The proposed tidegate replacement is a key component to achieving the restoration benefits in the Unit 2
restoration areas. The restoration benefits from the proposed tidegate replacements in Unit 2 would include
better two-way fish passage and better tidal exchange and improved water quality. The RRT noted that the
amount of habitat created and enhanced in Unit 2 would provide an extraordinary opportunity with large
benefits in a currently very simplified tidal system. Primary restoration benefits from the proposed tidegate
replacements in Units 1 and 3 would be improved water quality through better tidal exchange. The Unit 2
stream channel and habitat restoration work project would primarily benefit coho and other salmonid over
wintering habitats, as well as improving water quality and creating and enhancing habitat for nongame birds
and animals and water fowl. Unit 2 is now owned by ODFW who is a member of the Beaver Slough
Drainage District.

The arrays will be managed differently depending on whether they feed agricultural land Units or the
restoration Unit. Beaver Slough Drainage District (BSDD) has responsibility to all member landowners
to provide, maintain and manage the infrastructure necessary to protect the area from high tide cycles and
facilitate drainage for the individually owned parcels within.

Because of the complexity of the different Units and their uses, and the complexity of achieving restoration
goals, the RRT concluded that a water management plan for how the tidegates will operate different times of
year is critical to achieving restoration benefits in all three Units. The water management plan will determine
water levels allowed by the tidegates at different times of year, and ideally the plan would be developed and
implemented to maximize ecological benefits. Reviewers were disappointed that a water management plan
had not yet been developed and would have liked the plan to be submitted with the proposal. It was stated
that without knowing how the water would be managed, the reviewers could not evaluate the actual
ecological benefits that were likely to be achieved by the project.

Currently the tidegates are still in the design process with an engineer looking at multiple alternatives
including a landowner design, ODFW design and a hybrid design. At this point the project applicants cant
answer key questions about how water will be managed. The water level that will be maintained by the
tidegates during the operation is very key, and until the BSDD and project partners see the information and
plans/alternatives from the design process it is difficult to develop and sign off on a water management plan.
Tidegate designs are currently under ODFW and NOAA review.

Reviewers thought the landowner contribution to the project was very low based on the benefits to the land
management of the agricultural portions of the project. The majority of match to the OWEB request is
through a pending Coastal Wetlands application which seeks one million dollars to support the tidegate
replacement. The majority of funds necessary to implement the tidegate replacement work are unsecured.
The RRT would like to see more funding sources for the project. The RRT thought there might be other
entities providing in-kind match that were not included in the application, but without the information in the
application it was hard to weigh this into the discussion.

Reviewers understood that this is part of a pending Coastal Wetlands application, and if USFWS
awards the grant in J anuary 2015, that would provide significant federal funding. With that in
mind, even though they had significant questions about the ecological benefits without being able to
see a water management plan, they recommended it for funding. However, if funded, the RRT did
not want OWEB to release any funding until a water management plan, approved by ODFW,
NOAA and USFWS, was finalized.

Ecosystem Process and Function
The project work would help to restore tidal function and facilitate fish passage to the project area.

Regional Review Team Recommendation to Staff
Fund with Conditions. Water management plan approved by NOAA, USFWS and ODFW in place before
funds released.

Regional Review Team Priority
9 of 10

Distribution of Recommended Award Amounts

Recommended Amount EM Portion PE Portion
$515,000.00


Staff Recommendation to the Board
Do Not Fund; falls below staff-recommended funding line. The Coastal Wetlands application for $1 million
is pending and the USFWS decision is expected in J anuary 2015. The applicant can resubmit the application
to OWEB in October 2014 or April 2015. A resubmitted application should address the RRT
recommendations and concerns.


Staff Recommended Award

Recommended Amount EM Portion PE Portion


Total Recommended Board Award
$ 0.00