The Johnson Creek Watershed Council (JCWC) is a successful watershed restoration group focusing on Johnson Creek, a tributary to the Willamette River near Portland Oregon. Led by Executive Director Daniel Newberry, the JCWC works with the community to plan and implement a variety of volunteer and restoration activities in the Johnson Creek Basin. We worked with Restoration Project Manager Chuck Lobdell to complete the first Flexi Baffle installation in North America.
The JCWC wanted to improve fish passage through a 40-foot-long concrete culvert in the North Fork Johnson Creek Watershed. They found that coho salmon would exploit available habitat above the culvert of passage conditions were improved.
The video below demonstrated the results of the Flexi Baffle installation. The JCWC staff demonstrates how the flexible baffles interrupts laminar flow through the culvert and created resting pools which would allow fish to more easily pass through the culvert.
The JCWC installed Flexi Baffles in another culvert just upstream of that site. We will keep you posted on how it worked when we go out and inspect this summer. Stay tuned!