Streams & Watersheds

Rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and other waterbodies are a vital part of Mt. Hood National Forest. The Forest provides water for about a third of Oregonians, including drinking and irrigation water.  Water-based recreation opportunities abound and aquatic species, including Threatened & Endangered Species, depend on healthy watersheds. 

Restoring our Rivers

Historically, the Forest's west side rivers were characterized by multi-threaded channels spread throughout the floodplain, deep pools, and ample spawning habitat.

Restoration projects remove unnatural berms, reconnect floodplains, reduce stream velocities, increase aquatic habitat complexity, and improve conditions for a variety of species, resulting in salmon and steelhead returning to spawning and rearing areas after a nearly 60-year absence.

Sandy River Basin Restoration

The Sandy River watershed plays a vital role in sustaining populations of threatened Chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead in addition to other fish like Pacific lamprey, mountain whitefish, and cutthroat trout. With approximately 70% of the basin on Mt. Hood National Forest land, the forest plays a key role in securing the future of the Sandy River’s salmon runs.

The Forest has been restoring aquatic conditions in the upper Sandy River basin since the 1980s, prioritizing projects that ensure adequate spawning, rearing, and migration habitat for salmon and steelhead throughout the basin.

From 2010-2018, partners restored 3 miles of the Salmon River and 8 miles of Still Creek. More recent efforts include the restoration of an additional 3 miles of tributary streams to the Sandy River.  Since the removal of Marmot Dam and initiation of large-scale restoration efforts in the upper Sandy River basin in 2007, annual returns of winter Steelhead, coho and Chinook salmon to the upper basin has nearly doubled compared to the 10 years prior to dam removal and river restoration efforts.

Since 2021 partners have placed hundreds of logs and trees in the Salmon River, Boulder Creek, Clear Fork of the Sandy River, and the Zigzag River. The addition of the large wood and restoration of floodplain connectivity increase pool depth and frequency, recruit and retain spawning gravels, and restore habitat complexity for juvenile rearing.

Much of this restoration work is thanks to partnership efforts between Zigzag Ranger District Fisheries staff, The Freshwater Trust (TFT), and the NW Oregon District Bureau of Land Management. The Upper Sandy Restoration Project is a great example of working together across ownerships to complete basin-wide restoration goals. 

Cub Creek Restoration (Clackamas River tributary)

The 2020 Lionshead Fire burned hot on the southern end of the Clackamas River Ranger District, killing nearly every tree along the last couple miles of Cub Creek. Since then, the Forest worked with many partners to improve aquatic habitat in the Cub Creek watershed using danger trees lost during the fires.  Almost 400 logs from fire-killed trees were flown and placed into stream segments that aren't accessible to ground-based vehicles. Prior to this project, stream segments in the Cub Creek watershed had fewer than 20 pieces of large wood per mile.  These 2.6 miles of stream now have about 150 pieces per mile, which will increase pool depth and pool frequency, encourage spawning gravels for threatened fish species, and restore in-channel habitat complexity for juvenile fish.

Building on this success, the District is restoring the Cub Creek valley by re-establishing the floodplain to a "Stage 0" condition, add large wood back to the system, and rehabilitate fish and other aquatic species' habitat.