Display Name: Lower Willamette and Lower Columbia Cold Water Refugia
Description: Cold Water Refuges are those portions of a water body where or times during the diel temperature cycle when the water temperature is at least 2°C (3.6°F) colder than the daily maximum temperature of the adjacent well mixed flow of the water body (OAR 340-041-0002 [10]). Cold water refuges function to provide access to colder water relative to the main flow of the river in waters classified as “Salmon and Steelhead Migration Corridors” and are primarily colder water tributaries designated as “salmon and trout rearing and migration” use. Some off-channel features also provide cold water refuge. The cold water refuges DEQ has identified are in the lower Willamette River, and the US EPA has identified cold water refuges in the Columbia River.