Lower Vaughn Creek Enhancement Project
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The Lower Vaughn Creek project was initiated by the Tillamook Bay Watershed Council (TBWC) and represents the value and effectiveness of citizen stewardship. The Tillamook Estuaries Partnership (TEP) and TBWC are collaborating to restore the most degraded part of this watershed - its lower reach. This project aims to enhance the habitat and water quality values of a degraded lowland estuarine watershed.

In 2002, the TBWC developed the Vaughn Creek Action Plan, which guides partner efforts for the entire watershed. The lower reach of Vaughn Creek has several factors limiting sustainable fish populations including a culvert crossing, an upstream livestock ford crossing, and degraded riparian areas.

Watershed History

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At the mouth of Vaughn Creek, looking out to Tillamook Bay
Vaughn Creek drains a 675-acre watershed that has three mainstem miles, two miles of which bear salmon spawning and rearing habitat. The creek flows through forest, rural residential property, a golf course, and pasture land on its way to Tillamook Bay, where it discharges near the mouth of the Kilchis River. The watershed has become degraded through ditching, channelizing, and the installation of numerous stream crossings. With approximately 85% of Tillamook Bay's intertidal wetlands lost to fill and dredging, enhancing this watershed is critical to restoring these essential habitats.

The Vaughn Creek watershed historically supported runs of coho, chinook, chum, steelhead, and cutthroat trout. Formal historical records documenting fish use in Vaughn Creek are not available. However, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Tillamook District personnel and anecdotal landowner accounts of coho and chum in the creek indicate this creek was once and still is important to fishery resources.

TEP received a grant to snorkel the entire Tillamook Bay watershed in summer 2005 (every fifth pool to the end of coho distribution), including Vaughn Creek, to assess juvenile salmon populations and distribution. (To read about this survey, click here.) Surveyors observed juvenile coho, steelhead, cutthroat, and thousands of stickleback. Surveyor comments included noting that the lower reach: 'is functioning as extremely high quality rearing surface area for both summer and winter habitats'; 'is probably most important for production'; 'has coho that are already gigantic here (100mm)'; and 'has evidence of extensive food supply'.

Several enhancement efforts have been undertaken in the Vaughn Creek watershed including replacing four fish barrier culverts with bridges, upgrading a water diversion intake from a dam system to a gravity-fed intake system, one riparian planting project, and water quality monitoring since August 2003.


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The Tillamook Estuaries Partnership is dedicated to the
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