New salmon habitat at the Columbia River’s Tongue Point

Most BPA habitat projects involve restoring historic fish habitat that’s been lost. With the South Tongue Point Restoration Project; however, BPA is supporting the building of new fish habitat on a strip of land that didn’t exist until the 1950s. 

In Astoria, Oregon, crews led by the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce (CREST) are constructing habitat on 22 acres of dredge material that was not originally designed to support fish.

“This project is really different for us,” says Tracy Hruska, a project manager with CREST. “During the 1940s, this was a shallow area of the Columbia River, maybe 15-feet deep. Now it’s a chunk of land with no fish access, and we’re trying to change that.”

During the 1950s, vast amounts of dredge material were dumped at a site just south of Tongue Point, creating more than 200 acres of new land. The location is important as it’s right where the Columbia River’s fresh water starts to get salty. Young salmon often pause their downstream migration here while they slowly adjust to saltwater. Today, CREST’s South Tongue Point Project is attempting to create new habitat that will allow young salmon and steelhead to leave the mainstem river to rest, eat, grow and avoid predation.

“Juvenile salmon need to enter the ocean as robust and healthy as possible,” said Anne Creason, a BPA fish biologist. “This site will provide one of the last places in the estuary for these fish to rest and grow before making their journey into the Pacific Ocean.” 

To improve fish access to the site, CREST is building six-interconnected tidal wetlands, one to two acres in size each, and a 2700-foot-long tidal connection channel to help connect the wetlands to the mainstem river. The project connects to and builds on a smaller habitat restoration project BPA funded in 2012.

“Because the land is composed of dredge material and wasn’t originally constructed for fish, it’s been a challenge to understand where and how to create the new tidal wetlands,” said Hruska. “Most of the historic tidal wetlands on the river have been lost to agriculture, urbanization and industrialization, so we studied and mimicked historic wetlands on river islands and that seems to be working.”

Once crews create the new tidal wetlands and channel, the design includes planting thousands of native trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants over the next two years. However, that’s also a challenge since the land is composed almost entirely of sand – like planting a garden in a sandbox.  To improve planting conditions, the team is spreading a layer of nutrient-rich soil mix on top of the final graded surfaces prior to planting. That soil mix was made by combining materials salvaged from the site clearing and preparation: the thin layer of rich topsoil scraped off the top of the work area mixed with ground-up trees and shrubs.

“We think the organic material we’re spreading on top of the sand will add carbon and create fertile conditions for plants and insects that young fish need to thrive in a natural environment,” said Hruska.
“This project is an opportunity to learn more about how functional wetlands can be created from dredge materials, which is something that we’re starting to really study and explore, given the great potential for new fish habitat,” adds Creason.  

The South Tongue Point Project is a joint effort that involves BPA, CREST, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Clatsop Community College, the Fresh Water Trust, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.