Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 603 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE › Division 95 - AGRICULTURAL WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM › Section 603-095-4030 - Mandatory Notice Conditions

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
A valid notice shall include the following mandatory conditions
				under which traditionally maintained channel maintenance activities must occur.
				A valid notice may also include recommended conditions as provided in OAR
				603-095-4025(2) which become mandatory for the purposes of determining
				compliance with a valid notice.
(1) A
			 traditionally maintained channel must be dry before the commencement of any
			 removal activities in the channel. If there is standing water in the channel
			 that is due to a single rain event and the presence of the water is not
			 indicative of a stream, a person must request a variance on a form provided by
			 the Oregon Department of Agriculture prior to initiation of channel maintenance
			 activities.
(2) A person must begin
			 and complete activities that require removal of material from the traditionally
			 maintained channel during the applicable regional dry maintenance time period,
			 as designated by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, for the region
			 where the traditionally maintained channel is located.
(3) The body of any motorized equipment that
			 is used to conduct removal-fill activities must be operated from the streambank
			 or bank of the channel, with only the bucket of the motorized equipment that
			 actively removes material operating within the channel.
(4) Any excavation of the bottom of the
			 channel must be on a smooth grade and in a manner that does not create
			 depressions or grade changes within the channel.
(5) Maintenance activities must be conducted
			 in a manner that minimizes new erosion in the channel.
(6) Removal of woody vegetation must be
			 limited to the minimum amount needed to complete the maintenance activity.
(7) Revegetation must occur for
			 any riparian areas that serve as a buffer adjacent to the channel and that
			 experience vegetation loss as a result of the maintenance activity. This
			 condition is satisfied whether revegetation occurs naturally or after seeding.
			 Revegetation shall result in adequate ground cover to keep the banks stable and
			 prevent erosion.
(8) All work
			 related to the maintenance activity must be conducted only from one bank of the
			 channel, on either the north or east side, when practicable, to minimize the
			 ecological impacts of the maintenance activity.
(9) Motorized equipment used for maintenance
			 activities must utilize existing crossings, if crossing the channel is
			 necessary to complete maintenance activities.
(10) Maintenance activities must begin at the
			 most upstream location of the traditionally maintained channel and progress
			 downstream.
(11) Material that is
			 removed from the channel may be temporarily placed in a wetland or converted
			 wetland located adjacent to the channel to dry, provided that the material
			 must, no later than one-year after the date that the maintenance activity was
			 completed, be moved uplands or be spread in a thin layer outside the riparian
			 area that serves as a buffer adjacent to the channel. Material may only be
			 permanently spread in a thin layer where agricultural activity presently and
			 historically has occurred
(12)
			 Maintenance activities may not result in converting wetlands to uplands and may
			 not materially change the depth or functionality of a wetland. The
			 determination of functionality of a wetland will vary for each property, but
			 may include fish and wildlife habitat, hydrologic and water quality
			 functions.
(13) Impacts to wetlands
			 caused by channel maintenance activities must be temporary and must be limited
			 to wetlands adjacent to the channel, impacts related to accessing the site to
			 conduct removal activities in the channel, and the removal of material and the
			 disposal of material.
(14)
			 Maintenance activities may not result in a change in location of a channel
			 through the digging of a new channel and the diversion of the flow from the old
			 channel into the new channel. Maintenance activities may not cause or result in
			 increasing the width or depth of the channel beyond the width or depth to which
			 the channel has routinely been maintained to facilitate drainage.
(15) Maintenance activities must not result
			 in alteration of any existing inlet or outlet connections with other
			 waterways.
(16) The temporary
			 placement of material along one side of the traditionally maintained channel
			 must include gaps or flow paths to allow channel floodwaters to access the
			 fields upland of the channel.
Statutory/Other Authority: ORS
				  196.816
Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS
				  196.816