About the Project

Muddy Creek flows from its headwaters in Oregon’s Fremont-Winema National Forest southwest to Cottonwood Creek, one of Goose Lakes’ largest tributary streams. Muddy Creek is a 12-mile system, separated by Juniper Reservoir, built in 1965 to serve the region’s irrigation, flood control, and recreation needs.

Habitat above the reservoir supports a viable fishery for native fish species, but the lower system is degraded by instream flow structures including a concrete spillway, two diversion dams, and an undersized culvert built by a private landowner to divert irrigation water for ranch purposes and reduce flooding. This infrastructure has degraded the river channel, drawn down the groundwater table and blocked fish passage, isolating aquatic species as distinct populations above and below the reservoir, except during high spring and early summer flows when the reservoir spills into lower Muddy Creek. Despite cyclical drought conditions, aquatic species have survived in the reservoir due to the cold mountain springs that drain into it from the upper Muddy Creek system.

The Lake County Umbrella Watershed Council is working with landowners to reconnect the upper and lower portions of Muddy Creek. In 2021, the Council conducted work improving 1.5 miles of stream habitat below the reservoir. The next phase of the project will remove the Juniper Reservoir spillway and replace it with a roughened channel fishway to provide passage for native fish species to access the entire length of the creek for spawning, rearing, and refuge.