By Jim Hart - Staff Writer

George and Colleen Hoyt and a few of their friends are doing more than making lemonade out of the lemon life has given them.

Going beyond that metaphor, the Hoyts are literally bringing life out of death.

The story begins in late January when some strong wind east of Sandy brought down a 120-foot Western hemlock.

The tree, which had been growing between the Hoyts’ chicken house and wood shed, laid the chicken house on its side, damaged part of the shed, took out some fencing, destroyed a gate and driveway lantern, laid waste to some nearly 70-year-old rhododendrons and other plant life and blocked their driveway.

That’s the part of the story dealing with death.

Some quick thinking, and George Hoyt’s connection with the Sandy River Basin Watershed Council, raised the interests of Portland Water Bureau fish biologists.

And here is the life-after-death part of the story.

Last week, still in the midst of cleanup, Hoyt hired a truck and crane from Jim Earls of Colton and a logger, Eden Axmaker of Molalla, to cut a section of the dead tree about 20 feet above the root wad.

Earls, operating the crane, lifted the extremely heavy tree section and root wad onto the truck and transported it to a bridge spanning Cedar Creek — which ripples through a deep ravine near the Hoyts’ mountain hideaway off Highway 26.

At the direction of Water Bureau Senior Environmental Program Manager Steve Kucas and Bureau Fish Biologist Burke Strobel, Earls lifted the tree section off the truck and placed it at the edge of the creek.

Kucas says when the water flows around the tree section, it will scour out a pool that will be shaded by the tree trunk.

The deeper, quieter, shaded and protected water will be a sanctuary for Coho salmon and steelhead returning to spawn in the creek.

“This (root wad and tree trunk) will provide cover from predators,” Kucas said. “(The fish) always like to have a place to hide. We joke when we call the root wads ‘fish condominiums.’ ”

This section of Cedar Creek, Strobel said, has only about one-half of the deadfall that was present before the area was developed, leading to the need to re-establish natural protection for the fish.

Long-term project

This is a long-term project because it will take a couple of years for the downstream Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife hatchery to convert its handling of fish to allow native species to swim up the creek.

It also will take a couple of years for the tree section to become fully functional in its Creekside location.

But this is important because the bureau’s biologists are trying to restore native species spawning in all of the tributaries in the Sandy River Basin Watershed, which includes the Bull Run, Salmon and Sandy rivers and their tributaries.

“This type of work is going on all through the Sandy River Basin,” Kucas said. “We’re trying to improve lots of streams — especially those with sandy bottoms that Chinook, Coho and steelhead like.”

Because there are dams on some of the rivers to gather water for nearly 1 million people in the metro area, the Water Bureau has to take action to comply with the Endangered Species Act. In this area, Chinook and Coho salmon and steelhead are threatened species – in need of mitigating action.

That’s why PWB biologists are taking action to increase populations of those species. It’s all a part of the comprehensive Bull Run Water Supply Habitat Conservation Plan, 10 years in the making.

“This is a 50-year plan to build habitat throughout the basin,” said Terry Black, Sandy Basin community information representative. “This will build habitat elsewhere in the basin to make up for the impacts of the dams.”

The long-term plan is for at least the next 15 years to continue rebuilding habitat.

“We would like to put more wood in Cedar Creek,” Kucas said, “especially after we get fish passage.”

“The creek has been blocked to fish access for the last 50 years,” Black said. “The good news is that, recognizing the importance of the creek to wild fish production, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife plans to open up the creek in the next two years so salmon and steelhead can travel up the creek to spawn.

“When that happens, George and Colleen’s windfall will be there to greet them — ready to provide the conditions that adults and juvenile fish need to thrive.”

Want to help?

Bureau staff is interested in working with private landowners in the Sandy River Basin and funding projects to improve fish habitat for the next 15 years as the city of Portland implements its Bull Run Water Supply Habitat Conservation Plan.

For more information or to assist with fish habitat improvement, call Black at 503-823-1168 or write to terry.black@ci.portland.or.us.