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Chenoweth Creek
An ODOT maintenance crew has given Chenoweth Creek a new lease on life…life for salmon and steelhead.
Lying just at the eastern end of the Columbia River Historic Highway is a little known creek that had a big problem.
Just a stone’s throw from where Lewis and Clark camped on the night of October 25, 1805 on their journey down the “Great Columbia” river lies a small creek that has provided home and habitat for salmon and steelhead for thousands of years.
But in the 20th century, along came the automobile and the construction of US Highway 30, and in 1920 Chenoweth Creek was bridged.
While the Chenoweth Creek Bridge over Highway 30 has solved a problem for motorists, its construction created a new hurdle for the salmon and steelhead returning up the Columbia River to spawn.
After passing through the challenges of the Lower Columbia River…getting past fishermen and Bonneville Dam, the fish encountered another manmade obstacle at the bridge. As water rushed by the concrete apron of the bridge, it was scouring the channel and ruining the migratory path of the fish. And since ODOT had put the bridge in place, it was only proper that ODOT lend the fish a hand.
So, in September 2006, the District 9 maintenance crew from The Dalles set to work creating an improved fish passage, under the watchful eyes of ODOT biologist Cidney Howard and hydrologist Mike Ogden.
In short order, the crew filled the hole that had been scoured at the base of the apron. Then, using natural materials, they provided a meandering pathway to slow the creek flow and provided a more natural system of resting ponds and steps to give the fish a nearly normal pathway up to their natural spawning waters.
Since the end of the project, biologists have returned to Chenoweth Creek to measure success. They have found over 150 steelhead have made their way through the new channel into natural habitat in their former spawning waters.
ODOT has been pleased by this success and is considering a similar project for Mill Creek near the very spot where the Lewis and Clark party camped on their Voyage of Discovery, back in 1805.
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