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A ‘Watershed Moment’ for Amazon Creek:
Amazon creek is home to heron, otter, amphibians, insects, native fish like sculpins, and about 159,000 Eugenians, but where are the trout? When the seasonal flows are right, native cutthroat trout are knocking at the door of Amazon Creek where it meets Fern Ridge Reservoir and the Long Tom River. But the creek isn’t quite ready yet. After four years of success working to improve Amazon Creek water quality through voluntary low impact development with commercial partners through our Urban Waters and Wildlife Program, we see a community willing to take the next toward a trout friendly Amazon Creek, but we need your help.
This campaign represents a long-term vision to improve the quality of Amazon Creek such that a population of cutthroat trout may one day call parts of Amazon Creek home. It is a lofty vision, but an important one. We know they are at the lower end of Amazon Creek near where it connects to the Long Tom River, because we trapped them there during our migration study. But the arrival of trout from the Long Tom further up in the main stem of the Amazon is largely dependent upon water quality and flow. Temperature, pesticides and other pollutants from residential, commercial and industrial runoff all contribute to creek’s water quality. And while trout are certainly the most sensitive to these conditions, fish are not the only species that stand to benefit from its improvement. Heron, otter, other wildlife and, importantly, nearly 159,000 people have access to this urban water way, and improving the conditions of Amazon Creek means improving the conditions for everyone. The trout are just the most sensitive aquatic members of our incomplete urban creek community and are good indicators of clean water. The Long Tom Watershed Council wants to make them feel welcome with a cleaner Amazon Creek.
A Trajectory of Success:
Important work for the benefit of Amazon Creek water quality is already under way! Through its Urban Waters and Wildlife program, the Long Tom Watershed Council has been working with private commercial property owners to manage and clean stormwater and runoff through Trout Friendly Landscapes before it gets to Amazon Creek. These important projects have already begun positively impacting water quality in the creek, but we have a long way to go. With a long-term, big-picture, vision like trout in the Amazon, LTWC is poised to grow its impacts along with several important community partners who are already supporting us in this work.
How will your gift have a direct impact?
One of the strengths of the council has always been its ability to take a strategic and proactive local-approach toward water quality and habitat outcomes in the watershed. While grants can sometimes support our project work, competitive grant requirements are not always constructed with local priorities in mind; the highest priority projects for the Long Tom Watershed may not align with the priorities of available funding. Your gift will help the council to be strategic and flexible in addressing high priority projects and locations right here, right now, in your watershed!
This is a watershed moment for the Amazon, please join us in this exciting campaign for a Trout Friendly Amazon Creek!
Click Here for Donation Information or to Make A Gift Online
If you have any questions about the vision and goals of this important campaign, or you would like to discuss how you can help, please contact our Development & Communications Director Clinton Begley at clinton@longtom.org or by phone at 541-654-8965.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- But isn’t Amazon Creek just a concrete stormwater channel?
- Could cutthroat trout ever really live in Amazon Creek?
- What are the conditions that would support cutthroat trout?
- What is your current campaign goal?
- How long will it take before trout live in Amazon Creek?
- How does this support the mission of the Long Tom Watershed Council?
- I live in the rural part of the watershed, how does this impact me?
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But isn’t Amazon Creek just a concrete stormwater channel?
Amazon creek provides an important function for the city of Eugene in helping to move stormwater downstream quickly and efficiently to protect people, structures, and property following rain events. Through Eugene’s history of growth and development, sections of the creek have indeed been channelized, stabilized and reinforced to support this important function. However, not all of the creek looks the same. From the lush headwaters in Southeast Eugene, to the scenic Adidas/Rexius Running Trail near Amazon Parkway, to the rich habitat of the West Eugene Wetlands, and countless other segments and access points along its length, Amazon Creek has many personalities and provides Eugenians with different experiences around every bend. While Eugenians experience the creek in different ways, so do wildlife; this vision will focus on improving water quality so that trout can join us along with the heron, otter and other native fish that already call the Amazon home.
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Could cutthroat trout ever really live in Amazon creek?
Water quality is a significant barrier to trout living in Amazon Creek. The mission and methods of LTWC has supported water quality goals in the watershed for over 18 years in the rural landscape, and in the urban landscape for nearly 4 years. It is a big task, but improving the quality of Amazon Creek for wildlife and people is important, and many members of the urban community are already present and thriving in and near the creek, including other native fish like sculpin and dace, trout are simply the most sensitive aquatic members, and improving conditions for them, means better conditions for all of us who already live, work and play nearby. Some fisheries biologists believe the headwaters of the creek could support a reintroduced trout population now. But reintroducing trout is not our goal. Our goal is clean water to support them naturally throughout the creek’s length, because clean water throughout the Amazon is not just a benefit for the trout. Clean water in the Amazon benefits all members of this urban creek community, including people, and everyone living downstream.
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What are the conditions that would support Cutthroat?
Clean, cool water is necessary for cutthroat to thrive. It is unlikely that many portions of Amazon could support a year-round population of cutthroat trout, like other streams throughout the watershed it is simply too warm and dry in the summer months; seasonality of trout bearing streams is quite common. But like those other streams, the Amazon has the potential to be home to fluvial trout as they work their way up from the main stem of the Long Tom and Fern Ridge Reservoir. The Amazon is a major mover of Eugene’s storm water, and we have it to thank for the huge task of managing all the water that falls on Eugene each season. But as the rainwater flows across streets, parking lots and yards, it picks up pollutants like brake dust, zinc from galvanized surfaces, oil, pesticides from lawns, and other chemicals that trout do not like. Through our Trout Friendly Landscape Program, we are helping private commercial landowners to filter the water sheeting off their roofs and parking lots before it reaches the stormwater system. If we filter enough water before it makes it to the creek, we can eventually create conditions that would make the trout feel right at home in the Emerald City. We have a 4 year history of conducting this work in Eugene through our Urban Waters & Wildlife program, and are building momentum to even bigger impacts in the urban landscape. Click here for more information our Trout Friendly Landscapes Program and the conditions we’re trying to achieve.
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What is your current campaign goal?
The work of the Council throughout the Long Tom Watershed supports habitat enhancement and water quality watershed wide. Our work on riparian plantings, upland habitat enhancement, and fish passage projects in the rural landscape, support the urban enhancement and stormwater treatment work being done upstream in the urban landscape. Our current goal of $30,303 would infuse much-needed support for the important work already under-way while stimulating, through strong local support, a vision of a future trout friendly Eugene. “OK, but really, why the weird number?” It’s fun to say and easy to remember!
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How long will it take before trout might live in Amazon Creek?
The truth is, we don’t know. The mission of the council has always been to work voluntarily with members of the community toward habitat and water quality goals; this initiative with cutthroat trout specifically in mind is a continuation of that trajectory of work, with a specific focus upon making the creek ready to safely receive these native fish. There is scientific data to suggest what conditions would be favorable to trout, and what concentrations of common stormwater pollutants they may be able to tolerate safely. But while a wildlife agency may be able to spearhead a pilot reintroduction program someday, we may not know when we’ve accomplished our goals for water quality until the first sightings of wild cutthroat moving into the system are reported. This will take years, but it is a vision worth pursuing and the more projects we can get on the ground, with your support, the more likely and rapidly this vision may be realized. Every Long Tom Watershed Council project is undertaken with the mantra of “Action Through Understanding,” and water quality data collection is something we’ve been conducting in the Amazon for years. That data will continue to inform our efforts and our trajectory for success in this important project.
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How does this support the mission of LTWC?
The Long Tom Watershed council has always worked voluntary & cooperatively to improve local watershed conditions for fish and wildlife. The council’s commitment toward these goals is watershed wide! That includes Amazon Creek. While the council keeps growing impact in the rural landscape through upland habitat work, newly expanded service area to the Willamette river, and continued commitment to riparian habitat and fish passage projects, this urban focused campaign is an opportunity to recognize and support our important work being done upstream to address the unique challenges of urban water quality and wildlife habitat. Ultimately, the work we do in the Amazon supports, and is supported by the long history of rural work downstream, and this campaign supports the longstanding vision for inclusive, voluntary cooperation for habitat and water quality watershed-wide.
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I live in the rural part of the watershed, how does this impact me?
Amazon Creek enters the Long Tom via a diversion channel into Fern Ridge Reservoir, as well as via the main stem of the creek directly into the Long Tom below the reservoir. Because Amazon Creek delivers about 70% of Eugene’s stormwater runoff directly to the Long Tom, the entire Long Tom river can benefit from an upstream approach to water quality and wildlife habitat. Our long history of success in the rural landscape supports, and is supported by, this urban work.
