The Johnson Creek Watershed Council (JCWC) developed the North Fork Open Migration project conceived as a multi-partner collaboration aimed at eliminating all seven barriers to fish passage in the North Fork of Johnson Creek, near Gresham Oregon. The JCWC worked with a variety of entities to remove, replace and/or repair culverts that were a barrier to fish passage.
In 2018, JCWC made history becoming the first practitioner in North America to utilize the Flexi Baffle culvert retrofit technology to improve fish passage through culverts that are not planned to be replaced. The Flexi Baffle, developed by ATS Environmental from New Zealand creates step pools in a culvert to improve fish passage. Water velocities are reduced, and water depth increased, all to improve fish passage. ATS began working with their partner SSA Environmental to bring their unique fish passage technologies to North America. Since that time, JCWC has installed Flexi Baffles in two additional culverts.
This story describes the work and success of the Johnson Creek Watershed Council in improving fish passage.