Operation Tree Drop: Metro helicopters logs into Beaver Creek

Residents across Troutdale tilted heads up to the sky Monday morning, July 29, during a natural habitat restoration spectacle.

A twin-motor Vertol helicopter carried large logs, with roots still attached, into the South Beaver Creek Natural Area, which abuts Mt. Hood Community College, to recreate logjams. Those provide cool, slow-flowing hiding places for juvenile fish like salmon and steelhead.

In total 23 logjams using 74 trees were placed along Beaver Creek. Each logjam used between two to five logs, with smaller branches and brush added in after the fact. Those trees, primarily Douglas fir, were sourced locally, and a biologist helped determine the best location and structure for each logjam.

The project was led by Metro Regional Government, which owns the 63-acre Beaver Creek Canyon area. It was also approved by the city of Troutdale per a land-use application. Bringing in trees by helicopter is not a completely uncommon tactic for Metro. Similar work has occurred in Clear Creek, Deep Creek, Johnson Creek, Sandy River and Newell Creek.

Last week preparation for the airdrop included removal of a concrete structure in the middle of the creek that impeded fish passage.

Beaver Creek is a tributary to the Sandy River, originating from the farm fields and urban neighborhoods of East Multnomah County, before flowing through portions of Gresham and Troutdale. It meets the Sandy near Highway 84.

The South Beaver Creek Natural Area, where the log drop occurred, has the confluence of Beaver and Kelley Creeks. Both support salmon, steelhead, cutthroat trout and lamprey eels.

As young fish feed and grow large enough to journey to the Pacific Ocean, they need lots of hiding places. In the past those refuges were created when large trees fell into creeks. But because of past land-use practices, those logjams don’t form naturally enough to support strong fish populations.

Thus the helicopter produces less damage to trees and shrubs in the riparian corridor than heavy machinery would require.

Metro also got permits from the Oregon Department of State Lands and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and received support from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and National Marine Fisheries Service.

Restoration along Beaver Creek is an ongoing process. More work, though perhaps not as spectacular, is planned in the coming months.