Dairy-McKay Private Lands Fish Passage Assessment and Prioritization

Between 2012 and 2016, the Tualatin River Watershed Council (TRWC) identified and surveyed privately owned culverts that pose potential passage barriers for fish to upstream habitat in the Dairy-McKay sub-basin of the Tualatin River Watershed. Using LiDAR and aerial imagery, 1623 potential culverts were identified. Of the 1623 sites identified, 159 survey targets were selected, located on 126 privately owned properties. 

The TRWC reached out to the 126 property owners, and received a response from approximately half of those contacted. The landowner responses either provided permission to survey or informed TRWC staff that there was no stream crossing on their property, or the crossing was a bridge. TRWC seasonal employees eliminated, through additional mapping efforts and onsite visits, a number of culverts (not surveyed) due to the size of the stream or location in the watershed. Twenty-four culverts were surveyed with nine identified as high priority fish passage barriers, further detailed in this report.