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Inspiring and supporting voluntary stewardship of the Marys River watershed.
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Learning from the Landscape: Lessons from NOWC and Finn Rock
In May, a few of us from the Marys River Watershed Council had the chance to attend the Network of Oregon Watershed Councils (NOWC) Conference -- a statewide
gathering that brings together watershed councils for training, networking, and insight into emerging topics in restoration and community engagement.
Highlights from the sessions included:
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Carbon sequestration and natural climate solutions.
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Leveraging resources for wildfire resilience.
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Project monitoring and data storytelling.
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Updates and tools from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) and NOWC.
The most impactful moment wasn’t in a meeting room, it was standing in the floodplain at Finn Rock Reach.
A Field Trip That Swept Us Away
Finn Rock is a 900-acre restoration site on the McKenzie River, led by McKenzie River Trust with partners like NOAA, OWEB, and the McKenzie Watershed Council. There, we saw Stage 0 restoration in action -- techniques that remove levees, fill artificial channels,
and let the river spill, braid, and meander naturally again. Aubrey Cloud our Restoration Project Manager, called the project “humbling and inspiring.”
Let’s take a little meander ourselves: what do these “stages” mean?
Understanding Restoration Stages
In process-based restoration, “stages” describe a stream’s condition, from natural function to degradation, and its path back again. The framework ranges from Stage 0 to Stage 8:
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Stage 0 is a restoration to the stream’s historic conditions before manmade
alterations
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Stage 8 is a previously degraded stream that’s been reconnected to its floodplain
off of the mainstem
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Stages 1–7 represent varying levels of incision, disconnection, and channel
simplification, often caused by human impacts like straightening, culverts, or development.
When streams get stuck in these degraded stages, natural processes like sediment movement, channel evolution, and seasonal
flooding are blocked. Restoration at Stage 0 or Stage 8 aims to reboot the river, restoring dynamic, functional processes that support fish, wildlife, and water quality.
Finn Rock: A Model for What’s Possible
At Finn Rock, this looked like:
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Reclaiming an abandoned gravel quarry
and converting it into functional habitat for species like the Western Pond Turtle, which requires slow water, upland nesting areas, and safe migration corridors.
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Creating new spawning and rearing habitat that led to a dramatic increase in Chinook salmon, jumping from just 9 to 72 individuals in the first year after implementation wrapped
up in 2023.
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A robust, long-term monitoring program that is helping track ecosystem responses like fish counts, water quality, and channel evolution.
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Incorporating climate resilience by restoring natural functions that reduce flood risk, store carbon, and support groundwater recharge.
(If you're interested in learning more about this site, we’ve linked additional resources below.)
Bringing It Home: The Reese Creek Project
At Marys River Watershed Council, we dream of projects like Finn Rock. But west of the Willamette, our creeks are smaller,
land is more fragmented, and large-scale Stage 0 efforts are difficult -- both ecologically and financially.
That said, we’re making meaningful progress. One of our most exciting current projects is Reese Creek, a tributary of Muddy Creek. Identified as some of the best remaining fish habitat in our watershed, Reese hadn’t received much attention until a key landowner
stepped forward with full support.
Instead of the standard 20-foot buffer, this landowner gave us access to entire fields, opening the door to much broader restoration.
Since 2021, we’ve:
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Completed site prep in 2023 and launched planting in early 2024, with more to come.
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Installed 25 large wood structures in the summer of 2023 to build complexity and habitat.
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Replaced a substantially undersized and perched culvert that was a barrier to fish and a source of erosion.
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Relocated western pearlshell mussels before construction to protect native species.
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Planted 13 acres of riparian vegetation to stabilize banks and support biodiversity.
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Created scalloped bank pullbacks in summer 2023, to slow water, increase channel sinuosity, and encourage sediment deposition.
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Funded new planting through
DEQ’s Supplemental Environmental Program (SEP) — which is an opportunity to channel fines into local restoration work.
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Started conversations with adjacent landowners to expand the project further.
We refer to Reese Creek as a “semi–Stage 8” restoration. While we’re not fully reclaiming the floodplain, we’re using
similar principles to get as close as possible. Above the driveway, the stream was historically straightened and incised. Below it, our interventions are already allowing natural meanders, sediment transport, and channel evolution to return.
All of this helps slow water, deposit sediment, move nutrients, and rebuild floodplain function — exactly the kind of dynamic processes we aim to restore.
More Than Just a Field Trip
The conference didn’t just fill our notebooks (though we took lots of good notes!), it filled our heads with new ideas we’re already putting to use. We learned from Rose Graves of The Nature Conservancy about data tools for tracking carbon sequestration, which
we’re excited to integrate into our own proposals and reporting. Dr. King’s presentation on stormwater and environmental justice hit close to home, touching on challenges and opportunities for communities right here in Benton County.
Looking Ahead
We may not have the scale of Finn Rock, but we have the relationships, the curiosity, and the momentum to keep pushing forward. Projects like Reese Creek remind us that even small systems can make a big splash when restoration is grounded in trust, science,
and a love for the land.
If you’re inspired by what we’ve learned and what we’re building, consider supporting our work. Donations and legacy gifts help us bring more streams back to life, one bend at a time.
P.S. Want to learn more about the science behind this work? Dive into these resources:
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River Restoration to Achieve a Stage 0 Condition (OWEB)
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McKenzie River Trust – Finn Rock Reach
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Habitat Restoration to Benefit Threatened Chinook Salmon in the Willamette River Basin
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Get Outdoors Day 2025
Thank you to everyone who joined us for this year’s Get Outdoors Day at Peavy Arboretum! With
540 attendees,
70 volunteers, and
32 hands-on booths, it was a joyful and jam-packed day of outdoor exploration and community connection. Families from across the watershed came out to discover local wildlife, conservation
tools, and the wonders of nature.
Special shoutout to Oregon State University for hosting such an inclusive event. Many booths featured bilingual materials and Spanish-speaking presenters, creating a welcoming space for families to participate and learn.
Marys River Watershed Council and the Greenbelt Land Trust teamed up at a beaver-themed booth, where kids and adults learned how important these ecosystem engineers
are to healthy streams and rivers. We owe a huge thank you to our incredible volunteers, including the Youth Watershed Council (YWC), who brought the station to life with crafts, pelts, tracks, and the stream table! Events like Get Outdoors Day give our YWC
participants a chance to lead and share their knowledge, and that’s a big part of building the next generation of environmental stewards.
Youth Watershed Council: New Cohort Begins!
Get Outdoors Day also marked a meaningful transition for some of our Youth Watershed Council members. For those graduating high school, it was their final event as peer mentors with MRWC. We’re proud to have supported their growth as leaders, stewards, and
changemakers, and we can’t wait to see what they do next. Now we’re excited to welcome a new cohort -- alongside returning participants -- in June, beginning with a four-day summer workshop filled with trips to beautiful locations in the Marys River Watershed,
hands-on restoration projects, and learning sessions led by local environmental professionals.
The Youth Watershed Council helps young people connect with their local environment and feel empowered to take care of it. Through science, service, and peer leadership, participants gain real-world experience and make a lasting impact in their community.
Interested students can apply each April by visiting our
contact page or by reaching out directly to Nina Dominici (Ni...@MRWC.org), our Education and Outreach Coordinator, for more information.
We’re also deeply thankful to the funders who support the Youth Watershed Council program and make this work possible. With your support, we’re set to foster environmental connection and skill-building in nearly 20 youth this year. Thank you to our individual
donors, as well as the
Corvallis Community Thrift Shop, Benton Community Foundation,
Gray Family Foundation,
Trust Management Services, and ODFW's
Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund.
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Ecology Tap Talk: Ravens and Sage-grouse
Location: Common Fields, 545 SW 3rd St,
Corvallis, OR 97333
Date: Monday, June 16, from 5:30PM to 7:30 PM,
talk starts at 6PM
OSU Master’s student Richard Rich will share his research on raven movement and sage-grouse nesting success in response to raven management strategies in eastern Oregon.
Ecology Tap Talks series supported by Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund. Common Fields generously donates 10% of food and drink proceeds to the Marys River Watershed
Council to support our ecological restoration and environmental education work.
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