Photo by UCD staff
Photo by Kari Quaas
Photo by UCD staff
Watershed Health and Habitat
Streams are the lifeblood of our watersheds. They provide important sources of water, connection and recreation for our human communities as well as habitat for the diverse wildlife and native plants of this area. UCD serves residents and landowners by providing information and assistance to protect and improve the ecological health of streams, their riparian areas, and the upland watershed.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
UCD can provide technical assistance, such as site visits from UCD staff, to help identify plants, habitat, or discuss concerns related to streams or other waterbodies. UCD can provide technical assistance to landowners on:
Plants and trees for streams and riparian areas
Water rights
Wetlands
Livestock manure-management near streams
Off-stream water sources for livestock
Stream crossings
Assessing culverts (and replacing under-sized ones) for fish passage
Instream fish habitat enhancement
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
UCD may have access to financial assistance, such as cost-share for projects, on a case-by-case basis. Riparian buffer plantings and off-stream watering sources for livestock are some examples of past cost-share projects.
UCD has also tackled larger watershed enhancement and habitat projects with private landowners, such as adding engineered log-jams back to streams where they create pools and shelter salmon and steelhead trout, replacing several under-sized culverts with sturdy bridges to provide fish passage and access to many more miles of fish habitat, and piping an open-ditch irrigation system in order to conserve water for a fish-bearing stream.
EDUCATION
UCD has a variety of printed and electronic materials, books that are available to borrow, and other educational resources. UCD strives to offer periodic workshops and field days for area residents and landowners. Stay in the know about current offerings by signing up for our eNewsletter.
Learn more about habitat and water resources in the Columbia River gorge.
UCD also partners with local school districts and staff from other natural resource agencies to provide educational lessons on watershed health with classes of local schoolchildren, such as the annual WaterJam event, a multi-county water education day for fourth and fifth graders, and the long-running Jewett Creek stream-monitoring field trips with the White Salmon Valley School District.
Although UCD is a non-regulatory agency, we have compiled some resources around local and state regulations regarding water resources which we hope will be helpful for landowners. CLICK HERE for more information.
Contact us at 509-493-1936 to learn more about any of these services.