Medford plan aims to protect creeks
City is considering banning future development within 50 feet of six urban streams to help fish
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The stretch of Lone Pine Creek that flows out of the Medford airport is a microcosm of the pitfalls and opportunities facing urban creeks used by Rogue River basin salmon and steelhead.
Its banks are eroded and virtually devoid of brush and trees that stabilize soils and provide cool shade for infant salmon and steelhead. But under the ribbon of water lie fine gravels that could provide good spawning grounds for the basin's wild fish.
"I'd say overall it's probably in poor condition," says Chuck Fustish, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist who has surveyed Medford's urban creeks. "But for now, I think that's good enough."
It's possible the creek won't get any worse under plans proposed by the city of Medford to offer protection to riparian zones like this one.
The city is looking to add this portion of Lone Pine Creek, as well as stretches of at least five other urban streams, to its short list of protected creeks. The list has not been expanded in a decade.
A soon-to-be released draft proposal by Medford officials will ban future development within 50 feet on either side of 6.8 miles of city creeks known to hold wild salmon or steelhead.
Along with the stretch of Lone Pine Creek between Table Rock Road and Highway 62, streams proposed for riparian protection include a stretch of Lazy Creek from Black Oak Drive to its confluence with Bear Creek in Bear Creek Park; the stretch of Crooked Creek from South Stage Road to its confluence with Bear Creek; a stretch of Gore Creek to its confluence with Bear Creek in south Medford; the reach of Swanson Creek west of Highway 62 in north Medford; and a short stretch of Elk Creek near Beall Lane.
Surveys conducted in the last five years by Fustish and others have discovered that Rogue salmon and/or steelhead use these stretches of creeks during part of their freshwater life cycle — mostly as juveniles seeking refuge from high, turbid winter flows in Bear Creek.
The draft proposal would create 50-foot setbacks from the creek banks where no new structures would be permitted, said city planner Carly Meske.
Current structures would be grandfathered in, and existing structures such as sheds could be replaced, according to the draft. Mowing of existing grasses and vegetation trimming would be permitted, the draft states.
Chemical fertilizers would not specifically be banned in the creek's protected zones, but their use would not be encouraged, Meske said.
The creek stretches proposed for protection flow by or through 319 pieces of private property, Meske said.
City planners expect to mail information about the proposal to those landowners by mid-month, and they will be encouraged to telephone planners with questions about potential impacts to their properties, Meske said.
A public forum on the draft is planned for September, Meske said. Hearings will be held before the Medford Planning Commission and City Council before council decides whether to add these streams to the protected list, likely near the end of the year, she said.
Medford City Council member Bob Strosser said he believes the proposal balances private-property rights with natural-resource protection in documented fish-bearing streams.
"We always want to be concerned about private-property rights," Strosser said. "I think it's the appropriate thing to do — protect what's been identified."
The creeks would join about 13 miles of Bear Creek, Larson Creek, the lower section of Lone Pine Creek and Baby Bear Creek within Bear Creek Park as protected streams within city limits. Those creeks were the initial riparian zones protected by Medford city code in 2000, the first and only time when Medford's ordinances addressed creek protection for fish.
"I think Medford's not behind at all, but they're not the most cutting-edge either," said Craig Harper, water resources program manager for the Rogue Valley Council of Governments.
Ashland, for instance, has a more detailed riparian ordinance with more restrictions, while smaller cities along the Rogue such as Gold Hill, Shady Cove and Rogue River require no riparian protection.
Jackson County has had a long-standing riparian ordinance that calls for protections within 75 feet of the Rogue and 50 feet of other streams and lakes.
Within that protected zone, no development — including grading — is allowed without a permit. Also, all vegetation and tree cover must remain, but non-native plants such as blackberries can be replaced with native vegetation through a landscape plan approved by the ODFW, and exemptions exist for such things as hazard trees.
Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470, or e-mail at mfreeman@mailtribune.com.
