An oft-quoted truth in any large-scale restoration project is, "it takes a community." The effort to restore the upper portions of Maxfield Creek is certainly no exception. Maxfield Creek is fed by multiple springs and seeps located in the hills east of Kings Valley, and weaves through a patchwork landscape of managed timberlands, riparian forests and farmland before it meets the Luckiamute River just over 2 miles downstream of the junction of Maxfield Creek Road and Kings Valley Highway. Like many Luckiamute tributaries, Maxfield Creek was historically a network of braided streams until it was channelized into a single channel in the 1900’s. This change in the structure of the river, along with historical practices of logging to the river’s edge and the removal of logs from the creek, has resulted in the loss of gravel, streambed being scoured to bedrock in many places, and a deepened channel that prevents interaction between the floodplain and the creek
Since 2006, the LWC has been working with local landowners and project partners to address these challenges by removing fish passage barriers, realigning two sections of the adjacent roadway, removing noxious weeds, planting native vegetation, and placing large wood in the stream channel. From 2007 to 2009, the LWC, private landowners, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) worked together to replace two undersized, perched culverts on Maxfield Creek, realign the road to move it further away from the creek, and to place large wood in the stream. In 2013, the LWC and BLM added additional leftover logs from the earlier project (see video below). Then in 2020, BLM contributed more logs that were added to replenish the wood structures that were in place and further expand upon the aquatic habitat enhancements achieved. |