By Dylan J. Darling / The Bulletin
Published: October 01. 2011 4:00AM PST

CAMP SHERMAN — Chris Gross didn't mind the rumble of a tractor breaking the serenity of his fishing hole last week along the Metolius River.

“It needs to be done,” said Gross, a 66-year-old retiree from Corvallis. “This is a pretty special spot.”

Gross was casting flies into an eddy about a half mile downstream from Wizard Falls Hatchery near Camp Sherman. There, a U.S. Forest Service trail crew was busy moving rocks with the tractor as part of a project that is a demonstration of more trail changes to come.

By lining the main Metolius River Trail with rock and reviving a rock stairway leading to the river's edge, the trail crew is trying to stop erosion triggered by people scrambling down the steep bank at what anglers call “the Eddies.”

“We are kind of reinforcing and improving it,” said Steve Hayden, trail crew specialist for the Deschutes National Forest.

The U.S. Forest Service, Trout Unlimited and the National Forest Foundation joined to support the project, which is part of larger plans to revive the Metolius and Whychus Creek.

“We want the river to be beautiful,” said Darek Staab, project manager for Trout Unlimited. “People come fishing here for a reason.”

“This year we decided to focus on the Metolius because there is so much erosion and places that need our help,” Hedrick said.

Unlike snowmelt-fed rivers and creeks around Central Oregon, the Metolius is filled by springs. The springs have a steady flow, keeping the river close to the same level year round, said Maret Pajutee, ecologist with the Sisters Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest.

Not subject to high, flushing flows, she said the Metolius is prone to dirt brought by riverside erosion smothering gravel used by fish for spawning.

“So we worry about these little places where we have sediment bleeding into the river,” Pajutee said.

The restoration project at the Eddies is the first of many projects during the next three to five years along 15 miles of the Metolius, Staab said, starting at its headwaters near Camp Sherman. About a 10-minute walk from the fish hatchery, the project is on a prominent stretch of the river so anglers and hikers will see what may be in store for other parts of the trail.

“There is a lot of work ahead of us,” he said.

In all, there is about $60,000 in grant money available for the projects, Pajutee said. Half that money came from Trout Unlimited.

Trout Unlimited is a national conservation group focused on improving habitat for trout and salmon.

The next project may be even closer to the hatchery, at the “Dolly Hole,” Staab said.

While the Dolly Hole doesn't have a steep slope like the Eddies, it does have a similar dissolution of a main path to the water.

There, a branch of the Metolius trail runs along the riverbank, where anglers stand, creating the chance of hikers being hit by backcasts, said Dick Christiansen, who was fly fishing at the Dolly Hole late last week.

“Sometimes you don't hear them coming,” said Christiansen, a 72-year-old retiree who lives in Bend.

Staab said a restoration project at the Dolly Hole would move the Metolius River Trail back from the riverside and create clear paths off the main trail to the water.

Dylan J. Darling can be reached at 541-617-7812 or at ddarling@bendbulletin.com.