Starker Arts Park Filtering Wetland

The Watershed Council is working to restore wetlands, stop flooding, and increase aquatic habitat quality in Bruce Starker Arts Park. These actions are important because they help address the impacts of land use changes alongside the creek that hurt flood control, water quality, and aquatic habitat. MRWC worked to conduct a bank pullback, native wetland planting, and install a beaver pond leveler to maintain the pond at a safe height, increase habitat quality, and enhance Dunawi Creek’s ecosystem services.

The Watershed Council completed this project with our partners, including the City of Corvallis, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Western Beavers Cooperative, Chris Jordan (NOAA), Brian Bangs (ODFW), the Mid-Willamette Beaver Partnership, and the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition’s Water Action Team. This restoration project helped revitalize local wetlands, provide flood and pollution control, and build habitat for native species.

Historically, the low-lying areas that are now Starker Arts Park and pond would have been a complex network of wetlands. Wetlands provide benefits for downstream communities like decreasing water temperatures, retaining water during the summer, decreasing flood intensity, and filtering water. When the Corvallis area was developed, beavers were removed and wetlands were filled, which decreased aquatic habitat quality and the value of the ecosystem services provided. Development and simplification of the Dunawi Creek system also helped invasive species like bullfrogs and nutria colonize the area.

To restore some of the historic wetlands and resume benefits for downstream communities, the Watershed Council and our partners conducted a bank pullback to create a new wetland next to Dunawi Creek, planted native plants, and enhanced the pond area. A bank pullback is where the floodplain next to a stream is dug away to decrease the gradient of the streambank. The bank pullback allowed water to access a portion of the historic floodplain. As water moves across the floodplain, it sinks and filters through the ground where it can raise the water level in the soil, mitigates flow changes, and removes pollutants. The Watershed Council and our partners planted over 900 native plants in the new wetland. Native plants provide higher-quality wildlife habitat and can be hardier than non-native plants.

Beavers can provide habitat for a variety of aquatic species by building and maintaining wetlands. The beavers in Dunawi Creek also help enhance the effectiveness of the filtering wetland project by maintaining and expanding the wetted area. Unfortunately, beavers can come into conflict with people when the dams they build flood important infrastructure like the roads and trails near Bruce Starker Arts Park. 

To address these concerns, the Watershed Council installed a pond leveler that allows the beavers to continue their important work while managing water levels. The pond leveler works by allowing water a path to flow through the beaver dam regardless of how high they build it. The pond leveler will maintain the level of the beaver pond at a point that will not flood the nearby road or trails. By encouraging co-existence with the Dunawi Creek beavers, the beavers can continue providing wildlife habitat, and people can continue enjoying the park. The Watershed Council has taken similar actions to promote beaver-human coexistence in other areas in the Marys River watershed.