This stream restoration project on Currin Creek is located behind the Estacada High School. This is a SOLV Green Team project in partnership with the City of Estacada, Estacada School District, Timber Lake Job Corps and the Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District. Currin Creek had been rerouted for construction purposes with no consideration for riparian function. In the years since the original rerouting, the stream downcut and created a canyon type channel with no connection to a flood plain. Invasive species began crowding out native species along the bank and when volunteers arrived to work on the stream they faced a towering mass of blackberry and scotch broom. Over the years, SOLV volunteers- mostly students, have removed invasive species, sloped the bank to reconnect the stream to a flood plain and have planted native species in the riparian area and within the stream channel to slow the stream flow and absorb some of the erosive energy of the water. It will take years for the stream to recover, but with help from those who are dedicated to stream restoration, Currin Creek may once again become a functioning system.
