Dart Creek Fish Passage

Over the past 10 years, the Scappoose Bay Watershed Council has been actively working to restore fish populations in the Milton Creek basin through fish passage correction and habitat enhancement projects. Dart Creek is a tributary of Milton Creek. This project restores fish access to creek waters above Robinette Road.

May 2018 Update: Construction for this project begins in mid-July and will continue for approximately six weeks. (See project construction photos at the end of page.)

Construction complete. Planting natives will follow soon. (9/5/18)

Project Details

Dart Creek is tributary of Milton Creek which contains 17.8 miles of stream corridor and 6.6 miles within five tributary corridors that are utilized by Coho salmon. Milton Creek drains 33.7 sq. miles of Columbia County before entering into Scappoose Bay and the Multnomah Channel at the channel’s confluence with the Columbia River.

Milton Creek, and its tributaries, support fall Chinook, Coho, and chum salmon, winter steelhead and cutthroat trout. Historical splash-damming and development practices have resulted in fish passage barriers, reduced large wood in streams, erosion, decreased gravel retention and habitat complexity, and lower water quality. All of these factors have significantly reduced salmon population from historical levels.

Over the past 10 years, the Scappoose Bay Watershed Council has been actively working to restore fish populations in the Milton Creek basin through fish passage correction and habitat enhancement projects. Ten fish passage barriers, along the mainstream and within two major tributaries, have been corrected to date. Dart Creek is the last major tributary with numerous fish passage barriers, including a significant barrier located at the mouth of the creek.

Fish passage surveys conducted in 2001 and 2012 identified six crossings at five locations on Dart Creek as partial or full barriers that impede fish passage to these critical habitats. This project will focus on one of those locations — an undersized, perched culvert on Robinette Road 0.2 miles above the Dart Creek confluence with Milton Creek. The existing culvert is creating a barrier to juveniles and adults due to outfall drop during low-flows and water velocity at higher flows. The project will restore fish access and improve this critical fish and wildlife habitat.

More Information

For more information contact the Scappoose Bay Watershed Council at 503-397-7904 or email: info@scappoosebay-wc.org.

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