The project will change the landscape of the creek to help with water flow and sediment deposits
Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) and other participating agencies toured the landscape around the Quartz Creek area along the McKenzie River to survey the site for the restoration project that will begin this fall. The project will expand the nearby bridge and navigate the changing of the creek’s landscape to slow water flow for a variety of reasons.
The tributary of the Quartz Creek has historically caused issues for EWEB. This restoration project aims to help with the quality of the drinking water and the nearby environment. EWEB and a number of other local environmental advocacy groups have created a partnership to work together on this project.
“Quartz Creek has always been one of our problematic tributaries,” said Susan Fricke, the Water Resources and Quality Assurance supervisor with EWEB. “It takes a lot of sediment that comes through here and there’s this firehose effect because this is such a single-threaded channel.”
The project’s two phases will begin in the fall of this year, starting with the bridge expansion. In order to get heavy equipment into the site, as well as expand the roadway for day to day use, followed by the large scale restoration in the summer of 2024.
Similar to the Finn Rock Reach restoration project, the end goal is to re-establish natural floodplain processes, and create a more suitable environment and habitat for local fish and wildlife.
The total estimated cost of the project is expected to be close to $10 million, with over 75% of the funding coming from a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called the Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resiliency Grant.
Source: KVAL