Wolf Creek Restoration at Oregon Recreational Complex: This project includes both streambank and floodplain restoration, which will improve conditions for fish and benthos while also intercepting agricultural drainage to reduce nonpoint source pollution.
PROJECT LOCATION:
The project site is located along a stretch of Wolf Creek in the southeast corner of the Oregon Recreation Complex, owned by the City of Oregon. This section of Wolf Creek is less than a mile from Pearson Metropark and only three miles from its mouth into Lake Erie. The site’s adjacent land includes athletic fields, parking lots, agricultural fields, and bike paths.
PROJECT BENEFITS:
Coastal Lake Erie habitat was historically dominated by grassy and forested wetlands. Human activities dramatically altered this landscape, resulting in a loss of more than 90% of historic wetlands. The stream restoration on Wolf Creek will improve habitat for fish and benthos. Benthos are organisms that live in the sediment or near the bottom of a water body. Benthos make up the base of aquatic food systems and are vital to ecosystem health. Restoration of this coastal Lake Erie waterway provides the following benefits:
- Improvement of Wolf Creek stream morphology and a reduction in channel incision fosters new instream, floodplain, and wetland habitat for fish and benthos.
- Reduces sediment and agricultural runoff into Wolf Creek from unstable streambank slopes, improving overall water quality within the Maumee Area of Concern.
- Provides passive recreation and educational opportunities for recreational complex users via a new stone walking path and boardwalk platforms.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
- Improve 5,300 feet of streambank through regrading and vegetating.
- Improve sinuosity (curves and bends) of stream channel.
- Restore approximately 3.5 acres of floodplain habitat, including the creation of 1.5 acres of wetland.
- Install 2.5 acres of riparian buffer.
- Collect and slow runoff from 36 acres.
MANAGEMENT PRACTICES:
- A two-stage channel design will stabilize eroding stream banks by shaping at a more stable 3:1 slope. Partway down the banks, a step covered with vegetation creates a supportive plateau, before sloping down gently again to reach the creek bed. Widening the creek bed itself will promote habitat features like meanders, pools, and riffles.
- The creation of 1.5 acre floodplain wetland approximately 1’ above baseflow elevation and directly connected to Wolf Creek to allow floodplain access during rain events.
- The project also reduces nonpoint source pollution by intercepting agricultural drainage and capturing nutrients and sediment, routing it through a constructed wetland system in the floodplain habitat.
PROJECT LINKS:
PROJECT PARTNERS:
This project is led by the City of Oregon. The City received a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant from the US EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO.) The Oregon City Council selected the engineering firm Mannik & Smith Group, Inc. to provide professional services to design the stream restoration. A construction company will be selected once the design is complete.
