By Mary Owen
A plan to enhance the shoreline along Detroit Lake is one step closer to becoming a reality.
Three public meetings held for input into the Detroit Lake Recreation Enhancement and Shoreline Restoration Design Plan as well as other public feedback led to revisions and the completion of the final design plan, U.S. Forest Service officials announced recently.
“Having those design schemes completed will better position us to receive funding as opportunities arise to enhance recreation and restore habitat along the lake,” said Dave Halemeier, a USFS hydrologist.
The Federal Lakes Recreation Committee for Detroit Lake worked closely with the U.S. Forest Service and students from the University of Oregon’s Department of Landscape Architecture to produce the design plan, released last month at a meeting held in Detroit.
The project is funded by Title II of the Secure Rural Schools Act.
“This project will create and improve recreation opportunities and stabilize and restore eroding shoreline,” said Stefanie Gatchell, acting public affairs specialist for the Sweet Home and Detroit ranger districts.
“It is hoped that such changes would also serve as a boost to local economies in and around the Detroit Lake Recreation Area,” Gatchell said. “It will also establish a consistent landscape between all project sites that provides a basis for tourism and preserves the existing ecology and natural systems in the Detroit Lake area.”
The U.S. Forest Service reports the plan proposes a number of new islands to provide additional habitat areas while enhancing recreation and bird watching.
It also includes recreation improvements to better connect people with the water, including trails, parking areas and roads.
“The objectives for the project include using low-maintenance materials to reduce the costs of short- and long-term maintenance,” Gatchell said. “This includes native vegetation and the use of local materials.”
According to Gatchell, the Forest Service will work with existing partners such as the FLRC-DL, which received initial funding to implement the design plan, and will seek other opportunities.
Once funding is in place, restoration will begin on the three projects: Santiam Flats, Piety Island and Detroit Flats.
Improvements to Santiam Flats will address needed improved vegetative screening and definition, poor campsite layout with limited RV access, and an undefined day use area.
The camping area will also get additional vegetation to improve campsite privacy, improved signage for direction and identity, an added shower facility, a paved road, a camp host site and a system for recyclables.
At Piety Island, campsites will also get additional plant screening for privacy, trail improvements, stabilization of eroding shoreline, improved facilities including a recycling system, and dredging of the middle lagoon to create an elongated jetty for more camping and extended boat access.
Detroit Flats’ signage, entrances and transportation routes will be improved.
Also, new fishing, aquatic and recreational opportunities will be provided as well as improved facilities and habitat and shoreline stabilization projects.
The FLRC-DL also has slated a number of other improvement projects, including increasing the draft under the marinas, adding a winter boat ramp and possibly two more floating heads, changing the curvature of the Willamette Basin, adding an ATV parking lot, and enhancing spawning beds for lower water levels downstream from the dam.
Currently, the public input portion of the shoreline project design plan is completed, but as funding become available, people can comment during the National Environmental Policy Act process, Gatchell said.
“There are also volunteer opportunities to work on projects in the Detroit Lake Recreation Area either through the Ranger Station or the Detroit Federal Lakes Recreation Committee,” she added. For more information, visit www.detroitlakeoregonrecreation.com or www.fs.usda.gov/Willamette.
