Friends of Beaver Creek
Fall Chinook Coho
(Photos courtesy of Todd Hanna, Fisheries Instructor, Mt. Hood Community College)
The results are in.... a better year for Chinook in Beaver Creek.
Salmon spawning surveys are conducted on specified segments of a stream or river that are monitored/labelled by ODFW. The following information shows the completed results for spawning surveys conducted on Beaver Creek from October through December 2014. These surveys were conducted by Fisheries Students at Mt. Hood Community College, as well as by myself (a resident of Beaver Creek). Many thanks go to the Fisheries Department at MHCC for this data, as well as the landowners that allowed access to get the data in the first place!
The first reach of Beaver Creek is numbered 33393, and is broken down into segments. Each segment is a given length of stream as determined by either total length or landmarks such as intersecting streams. Reach 33394 is where Kelly Creek intersects Beaver Creek. Reach 33395 Is from Kelly Creek to the confluence of the main stem of Beaver Creek and the South Fork. Below is a map for a general idea of where surveys are conducted.
Reach 33393, segment ONE is not surveyed. This reach is from the mouth of Beaver Creek up to the Glen Otto bridge.
Reach 33393, segment TWO:
This segment is from the Glen Otto bridge to the footbridge at Kiku Park.
8 surveys done between 10/18/14 and 12/8/14
66 Live fish observed (51 Fall Chinook and 15 Coho)
60 Carcasses sampled (47 Fall Chinook and 13 Coho)
17 Redds observed
Reach 33393, segment THREE:
This segment is from the footbridge at Kiku Park to Troutdale Road
8 surveys done between 10/18/14 and 12/8/14
21 Live fish observed (14 Fall Chinook and 7 Coho)
1 Carcasses sampled (1 Fall Chinook)
2 Redds observed
Reach 33393, segment FOUR:
This segment is from Troutdale Road to Kelly Creek
7 surveys done between 10/18/14 and 12/8/14
1 Live fish observed (1 Coho)
0 Carcasses sampled
0 Redds observed
Reach 33394, segment ONE
This segment on Kelly Creek is from the mouth of Kelly Creek up to the dam on the Mt. Hood Community College Campus
8 surveys done between 10/18/14 and 12/8/14
0 Live fish observed
0 Carcasses sampled
0 Redds observed
Reach 33395, segment ONE
This segment is from Kelly Creek up to just passed the intersection of Troutdale Road and 17th street/Cochran Rd.
8 surveys done between 10/18/14 and 12/8/14
1 Live fish observed (Steelhead/Rainbow Trout)
0 Carcasses sampled
0 Redds observed
Reach 33395.7, segment ONE
This segment is from the instersection of Troutdale Road & Division Drive up to the confluence of the main stem of Beaver Creek and the south Fork of Beaver Creek.
8 surveys done between 10/17/14 and 12/7/14
0 Live fish observed
0 Carcasses sampled
0 Redds observed
Reach 33396, segment ONE
This segment is on the South Fork of Beaver Creek and is from the confluence as mentioned above to 302nd
8 surveys done between 10/17/14 and 12/7/14
0 Live fish observed
0 Carcasses sampled
0 Redds observed
TOTALS:
89 Live fish observed (65 Fall Chinook, 23 Coho, and 1 Steelhead/Rainbow Trout)
61 Carcasses (48 Fall Chinook and 13 Coho)
19 Redds Observed
What does this mean for Beaver Creek?
This was a great year for Fall Chinook! And, not so great of a year for Coho. The big question is why so few salmon were seen above Troutdale Road. Multnomah County assessed the culvert under the road for fish passage and did determine it is passable, although more challenging in low flow conditions. The culverts at Stark Street have always been a barrier for Chinook, although Coho typically get through. I imagine it is based on rain fall. It seems to me that there were a lot of large rain storms, but not a good steady flow that would allow a continuous water level to make fish passage more managable. It is also possible that more fish came through during those high water events, but surveys were not done at those times (for both safety reasons and visibility).
