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<br />river levels were high. The completion of the major flood control dams on the upper <br />Willamette River in the 1950s and 1960s significantly altered the character of the river <br />system. Since then, the river has essentially been confined to its present day channel <br />as it passes through Eugene, and is much less prone to flooding. The resultant loss of <br />side channels and backwater areas has contributed to the decline of salmon and other <br />wildlife species dependant on this habitat. As the Eugene area began to rapidly <br />urbanize following World War II, the rich aggregate deposits in the Delta Ponds area <br />that were left over from millenniums of deposition were mined for use in the construction <br />of local roadways. When mining ended in 1964, what remained were a series of steep- <br />sided ponds that became overgrown with invasive vegetation and were hydrologically <br />disconnected from one another and from the Willamette River. <br /> <br />Delta Ponds Floodplain Restoration Project <br />In 1979-1980, the City of Eugene purchased the majority of the Delta Ponds complex <br />for natural area protection. In the 1990s, as the federal Endangered Species Act listing <br />of spring Chinook salmon was being considered, City of Eugene staff realized that <br />reconnecting the ponds to the Willamette River could provide important side-channel <br />habitat for juvenile salmon. It was not long after that the City of Eugene began seeking <br />partners and funding for a major habitat restoration project to reconnect the 2.2 mile <br />long side channel, improve riparian habitat, and provide recreation and educational <br />opportunities for the community. <br /> <br />The floodplain restoration project was phased in over multiple years as funding became <br />available. In 2005, surface inflow from the Willamette was improved through the <br />construction of a weir between the river and the southern-most ponds that created 23 <br />acres of backwater habitat. Several smaller channels were excavated to connect <br />individual ponds to each other. Two large, gated culverts were installed in 2007 under <br />the historic levee system, completing the first of two critical connections to the interior <br />ponds. The final significant connections were completed in summer of 2010. This <br />included the construction of a large box culvert under Goodpasture Island Road <br />connecting the upstream ponds to a series of downstream ponds. The excavation of <br />several channels downstream of this new culvert provided the final link between the <br />Willamette River at the upstream end, interior ponds, and a long remnant slough known <br />as Dedrick slough that had retained its historic connection to the river all these years. <br /> <br />Completion of the connections to the Willamette River has created a total of 2.2 miles <br />(74 acres) of side channel Willamette River habitat (see Map 2). The project was <br />designed so that river water would flow through the reconnected side channel in late <br />fall, winter, and spring, allowing native fish and wildlife to move between the ponds and <br />the river. Most importantly this back water habitat will provide a place out of the main <br />current for juvenile spring Chinook salmon that migrate down the Willamette River to <br />feed and grow, improving their chances of survival once they reach the ocean. <br /> <br />In addition to the work in the main Delta Ponds area, another backwater channel was <br />created in 2010 on the west side of the river in an area called Heron Slough. The <br />mainstem of the river flowed through this area as recently as 1936 (see historic aerial <br /> <br /> <br />