Applegate Partnership & Watershed Council

2017 Report

The Applegate Partnership & Watershed Council is a community-based non-profit organization, located in southern Oregon.  The mission of the AP&WC is to promote ecosystem health through stewardship, education and restoration carried out in partnership with landowners, agencies and other interested parties while contributing to local economic and community well-being.

In 2017, the AP&WC received a grant from the Schwemm Family Foundation to continue a large, multi-phased riparian restoration project on Thompson Creek in the Applegate Watershed—a low gradient, perennial tributary of the Applegate River, supporting Chinook, ESA-listed Coho, and Summer and Winter Steelhead salmon. This grant helped to support riparian habitat restoration on 2.67 acres of private land to address critical limiting factors for salmonids, including degraded riparian areas and lack of shade, compromised water quality and a lack of channel and substrate complexity. This project has focused on restoring riparian habitat by replacing thick invasive species cover, including Arminian Blackberry and Poison Hemlock with a diversity of native shrubs and trees.