Spring Creek is a small creek near Camp Sherman, Oregon that feeds into the Metolius River. The Land Trust was able to protect the headwaters of Spring Creek by working with the landowners to create a land preservation agreement to forever conserve their land.
Spring Creek is private property and is not publicly accessible. From time to time the Land Trust arranges special tours of this property. Tour highlights include:
Bird watching: With songbirds nesting along the creek and local raptors using the ponderosa pines as hunting perches, bird watching is always interesting at Spring Creek.
Native fish: See the headwaters of Spring Creek which contains high quality habitat for bull trout, spring Chinook salmon, redband trout, kokanee/sockeye salmon.
Wildflowers: Spring and summer wildflowers provide a riot of color at Spring Creek. Enjoy giant creekside lupine and more delicate bog orchids.
Spring Creek is some of the Metolius basin’s highest quality private land for fish and wildlife habitat. The land protection agreement protects freshwater marsh and streamside woodland and shrubland, which support, among other things, these sensitive species: white-headed woodpecker, northern goshawk, olive–sided flycatcher, and the Cascade frog.
The Metolius River and tributaries like Spring Creek provide important habitat for the reintroduction of salmon to the upper Deschutes region. Spring Creek provides habitat for bull trout, spring Chinook salmon, redband trout, and kokanee/sockeye salmon. The land protection agreement also protects water quality and quantity in Spring Creek and the Metolius River.
Finally, adjacent Forest Service and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife lands protect most of the remaining length of the creek.
Placing logs in Spring Creek to improve fish habitat. Photo: Jay Mather.
Recent restoration efforts have focused on improving fish habitat at Spring Creek. Logs were placed in Spring Creek in the spring of 2014 to provide habitat for spring Chinook salmon, bull trout, redband trout, and other native fish. Crews used more than 30 salvaged trees from the nearby Green Ridge fire to slow water and create deeper pools that protect growing fish.
Volunteers then came out to help plant the banks of the creek with native trees, shrubs, and grasses. Check out photos of the log placement and subsequent plantings.
Huge thanks to the landowners along Spring Creek, including the Livingston and Morley families, who own the property the Land Trust has protected!
Restoration partners include the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, US Forest Service, and Upper Deschutes Watershed Council. Thanks for making the Spring Creek restoration possible!
Spring Creek is private property and is not publicly accessible. From time to time the Land Trust arranges special tours of this property. Visit our current events to learn more.
The map below shows the location of the Spring Creek project along with other Land Trust conserved lands.
Paintbrush along Spring Creek. Photo: Jay Mather.
Photo: Jay Mather.
Placing logs in Spring Creek to improve fish habitat. Photo: Jay Mather.