Quantifying the long-term restoration success of large wood introductions on winter juvenile coho salmon populations

Graduate Student Name: 
Madelyn Maffia
Email Address: 
Faculty mentor/Supervisor: 
Catalina Segura
Email Address (Faculty mentor/Supervisor): 
Department Affiliation: 
Forest Engineering Resources & Management
Job Location: 
Siletz, Oregon
Description of project or research opportunity: 
Coho salmon populations have been decreasing in number within the Siletz River for numerous years due to channelization from anthropogenic activities. As a restoration effort, over 500 logs were placed into log jam formations in three fish-bearing tributaries of the Siletz River in 2014. The introduction of the logs serves the purpose of slowing the water, stabilizing the stream bed structure, increasing stream complexity, and overall improving the quality of the habitat. Four objectives are in place to collectively investigate the long-term restoration effort’s success: 1) Assess the changes in available fish habitat, 2) Examine long-term topographic changes in the stream, 3) Investigate the movement and stability of the large wood, and 4) Investigate the relationship between the basin's geomorphology and fish populations. Multiple methods are required to fully evaluate the success of the restoration endeavor on the winter juvenile coho salmon population. They include: 1) Topographic surveys with a Nikon total station of the stream bed and banks to understand the geomorphology of the stream, 2) Pebble counts to quantify the sediment distribution, 3) Instrumented level loggers to continuously measure water surface elevations for varying discharges, 4) Simulating acceptable habitat, considering velocity and shear stress, with the hydraulic modeling program Nays2DH, and 5) Working alongside the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to collect electrofishing, seining, and snorkeling fish surveys within the basin.
Tasks student will perform: 
The undergraduate student will be participating in graduate students' thesis research by assisting with fieldwork in an actively harvested forest owned by Weyerhaeuser. Fieldwork will consist of trekking through a large riverine system to relocate large wood placed in log jam formations with GPS coordinates and a handheld tablet. The undergraduate student will additionally assist with topographic surveys of streams and streamflow boundaries. Additional tasks include making field observations, measurements, and detailed descriptions in a field notebook.
Special skills required: 
Special skills required are the ability to wade through water, hike on uneven terrain in waders, stand for prolonged hours, communicate efficiently over large distances, and attention to detail. Fieldwork can be strenuous and the selected undergraduate needs to be able to endure the rigorous demands of working in a river.
Proposed dates of employment (must be between June 19 and September 4): 
Monday, June 20, 2022 to Friday, July 1, 2022
Anticipated hours worked per week: 
40