Back in June, I visited our Little Butte Creek River Mile 16.7 site located in the Lake Creek Community. The contractor was working hard to upgrade the irrigation system, and the loud noise of the equipment hammering through bedrock led me to explore on the opposite bank. I walked with our Restoration Project Manager, Emily, who was on site to oversee construction. As we meandered downstream, looking at some of the newly placed large wood structures, we heard a little splash. To our pleasant surprise, a river otter was swimming along the bank. Wildlife sightings on restoration projects are always exciting, especially when we can see how the restoration actions will impact their habitat. The wood structures provide cover, shade, and habitat for many aquatic species, including these semi-aquatic mammals. See if you can spot one in the video below!
We caught the brief moment on camera- see if you can spot the otter in the video.
North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis) can be found throughout most of the United States and Canada, and they are known for their social behaviors. They slide, chase their tails, burrow in the snow, and play in the water to bond and teach their young hunting techniques. They eat a variety of food, from fish to bugs to plant material, and they have to eat often to keep up with their metabolism! Adults are typically 3-4 feet in length with the tail making up about ⅓ of that length. Sometimes they can be confused with sea otters, but we need to be much closer to the coast to see their marine counterpart. In addition, Sea Otters are 2-3 times larger and float on their backs– river otters swim stomach down.
Graphic comparing River & Sea Otters courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service.
River otters use large wood structures for protection, and these structures add habitat for fish and other aquatic life that keeps the food chain cycling. In addition to large wood placement, our project on Little Butte Creek River Mile 16.7 includes floodplain forest rehabilitation to improve water quality, stream processes, and aquatic and terrestrial habitat. Once the heavy Armenian blackberry infestation is not outcompeting the native plants for light and nutrients, natural recruitment and forest succession can begin again (learn more about our process here).
Because this project is located near the ranch's cattle transfer corral, a wildlife-friendly fence will be built in strategic places, buffering up to 30 feet from the stream. This new fencing will protect native plants that are reestablishing throughout the site from excessive cattle grazing.
Large wood structures placed at our Little Butte Creek River Mile 16.7 site.
That’s all sunshine and rainbows, but how does wildlife respond to in-stream construction? Well, during the in-stream construction period we have to be careful to minimize the impacts caused by earthwork from heavy equipment. One way we make sure aquatic life is unharmed is through turbidity monitoring. Turbidity is easily defined as the cloudiness in water, caused by flowing particles of various sizes. In our work, that is typically stream and bank sediment loosened during construction. While in-stream work is occurring (log placements, sediment removal, etc.) our staff is on hand to measure turbidity every two hours, depending on the type and duration of work. If turbidity levels exceed baseline readings (collected before the start of in-water work), the activity may either need to be modified or stopped depending on the level of severity above the baseline reading. We use Best Management Practices (BMPs) to ensure turbidity levels stay within a reasonable range, limiting interruptions to work.
Project Manager, Emily Ulman, on site to monitor turbidity levels during construction.
The obvious answer to what wildlife does during construction is… they move? Although our work tries to minimize negative impacts to wildlife, if conditions become temporarily unsuitable, wildlife can go upstream or downstream until they find a safe area. In some cases, we will do what is called a fish salvage, where we relocate fish that may become temporarily stranded as a part of our work. This is common with dam removals and other construction activities that affect connections between channels and standing water. Once we are done with our restoration actions, we usually see wildlife checking out the wood structures, river crossings, and boulders that will improve their habitat for years to come.
Check out this deer exploring Slate Creek after we removed a dam earlier this summer!