Biographical Note
Woody Holderman began his career with the Oregon Game Commission in 1947
as a trapper and demolition specialist for the removal of beaver dams. In 1961,
be became the stream clearance foreman for the Oregon Game Commission. Assigned
to projects by Commission biologists, Holderman coordinated with private
landowners, dealt with community groups interested in the project, hired
contractors, supervised the project, and evaluated the results. The stream
clearance projects involved chainsaws, equipment to remove logs, and dynamite
to remove obstructions. Project objectives were to improve fish passage in
streams blocked with logs, silt, and other obstructions. After his retirement
from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1978, Holderman continued
his stream clearance work with private contractors.
Content Description
The Woody Holderman Photographs document the Oregon Game Commission's
program of wood clearance from streams and rivers in Oregon's coastal basin
forests. The images depict active removal of wood debris by crews under
Holderman's supervision; the streams and river before and after the clearance
projects; manmade features such as fish ladders; and river flooding. The
collection consists of 772 black and white prints and negatives and 171 color
slides taken by Holderman during the time he was a stream clearance foreman
with the Oregon Game Commission.
The collection includes photographs of the following coastal river
basins: Alsea, Coos, Coquille, Nehalem, Siletz, Siuslaw, Smith, Trask. Umpqua,
Wilson, and Yachats. Other Oregon rivers represented are the Deschutes, Hood,
Long Tom, Marys, and South Santiam Rivers. Photographs of Tahkenitch, Siltcoos,
Trillium, and Elbow Lakes are also included in the collection.
Use of the Collection
Restrictions on Access Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation Woody Holderman Photographs (P 263), Oregon State University Archives,
Corvallis, Oregon.