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Habitat Projects in the Chehalis River Watershed

Cabe/Fenn · Chehalis Headwaters · Deep Creek · Dillenbaugh Creek · Eaton Creek · Fagerness Riparian · Forrest Rd. · Gaddis Creek

Galyean · Gerhard · Lincoln Creek · Mill Creek · Skookumchuck · Sterns Creek · Winkleman Creek · Vance Creek Bridge · Vance Creek Riparian

Cabe/Fenn

Located on the south fork of the Chehalis River, the Cabe/Fenn project was designed to improve salmonid habitat by stabilizing bank cuts along the riverside and installing fencing to deter livestock. Over a three month period, crews worked to stabilize three large and active bank cuts totaling over 600 linear feet. Large woody debris consisting of four in-channel spanner logs was placed within Sep Creek, a tributary to the South Fork of the Chehalis River. The removal of an impassable culvert on Wilson Creek opened several thousand feet of Coho spawning and rearing habitat. Sixteen thousand feet of New Zealand power fencing was installed to protect twenty-eight acres of riparian zone habitat.

At a total cost of $60,022.62, the Cabe/Fenn project was made possible through a cooperative partnership including funding provided by the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force and United States Fish and Wildlife Service. In-kind services and materials amounting to over $4,300 were provided by Bob Cabe and David Fenn, landowners, and the Chehalis Indian Tribe through the provision of planning, oversight, permitting and reporting.

Chehalis Headwaters Restoration

The Chehalis Headwaters Restoration Project is located south of PeEll, Washington.  The Headwaters cover 70.19 square miles and provide important habitat for Spring Chinook, Coho, Steelhead and Cutthroat Trout.  Through a watershed analysis a number of problems threatening salmonid population were identified.  These problems included excessive stream bed sedimentation due to mass wasting and road related problems, absence of stream side vegetation and high water temperatures.  To reduce sediment delivery the Chehalis Headwaters Restoration Project proposed to abandon 25 miles of road and improve drainage conditions on 40 miles of road. The abandonment process consisted of road prism restoration, opening of drainage locations and installation of culverts, and erosion control by seeding roads with grass and restoring riparian areas.

Additional work involved the restoration of two landslides that were delivering sediments to Brown Creek and Big Rodgers Creek and the treatment of 340,219 square feet of exposed soil with a combination of grass seed, willow stakes and bough layering. Developed by EcoSystems Environmental Consultants and implemented by crews employed by D&R and Ritter Vegetation, this technique was so successful it became a model to guide future landslide restoration efforts.

The Chehalis Headwater Restoration Project performed above all expected obligations.  In total, 60.4 miles of abandonment, 7.9 acres of erosion control and the placement of 73 drainage structures were accomplished in the headwaters.  Sixty five thousand man-hours of employment were utilized along with an additional eight thousand hours in volunteer match.  At a total project cost of $666,000, the Chehalis Headwaters Restoration Project is an excellent example of a successful public/private partnership that included the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force, Weyerhaeuser, Washington State Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Road abandonment and side cast removal was conducted by Don Entus Log Road Construction Company.  D&R Enterprise and Ritter Vegetation carried out erosion control and revegetation segments.  Model projects such as this set a standard for the development of other projects under Watershed Partnership Programs.

Deep Creek Watershed Restoration

Deep Creek located east of Centralia, Washington, flows into a tributary of the Chehalis River known as Bunker Creek.  The creek exhibits severe sedimentation problems that degrade spawning habitat for resident populations of Coho Salmon and Cutthroat Trout. The project’s main goal is to address sediment delivery in the watershed, which severely damages natural salmon spawning habitat.  Project design included: The obstruction to and restoration of over 38.25 miles of ORV trails that ran through basin tributaries including the decommission of 25 miles of established ORV trails; abandonment of 3.25 miles of roadway; six miles of drainage upgrades including over 14,850 feet of ditch line restoration; 23 trailhead ditch outs; 42 culvert clean outs; four culvert removals; 16 culvert placements and 15 sedimentation traps; replacement of a fish passage culvert; and restoration of approved ORV stream crossings.

Initial partnerships between Washington’s Department of Natural Resources, the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force and Ecosystem Consultants forged the development strategy and implementation process.  In order to carry out the plan partnerships were developed with Port Blakely Tree Farms, Bonneville Power Administration and private property owners.  Construction phases were prioritized to have the least possible influence on fish populations and incorporate seasonal weather patterns. Listed in order of initiation, it was not unusual for two or three phases of the project to operate simultaneously.  

Phase 1 involved the replacement of a perched culvert with a 30-foot bridge and asphalt supports. The culvert had to be removed due to fish passage problems on the tributary (excavation performed by Gilk Construction, Winlock, WA, and bridge construction by Dulin Construction, Centralia, WA).

Phase 2 dealt with trail and road abandonment.  Work performed by Northwest Upland Restoration (Elma, WA.) involved downing trees, restoring stream banks, grass seeding, water barring rutted trails to decrease runoff on compacted soils and other erosion control systems.

Phase 3 of the project was also performed by Northwest Upland Restoration and involved the planting of non-grassy vegetation. The plantings facilitated the natural revegetation process and included native transplants, shade-tolerant non-conifer prohibiting grass and clover seed mix and shade-tolerant conifer underplantings. Douglas Firs were planted in open areas.

Phase 4 incorporated the use of heavy equipment to upgrade road drainage systems that delivered sediments to Deep Creek and its tributaries. Gilk Construction performed drainage upgrade activities to keep water off roadways, culvert placement and sediment trap installations.

Phase 5 addressed the particular road bed and drainage system on the D-2000 line. Gilk Construction singled out this road because it ran right through the heart of the Deep Creek headwaters, crossing and running adjacent with the stream for over a mile. Puncheons were taken out and replaced with culverts, ditch lines were established, more cross drains were installed, the road was crowned and the total prism was restored.

At a total project cost of  $73,000, the Deep Creek Project created over 4,100 man-hours of employment.  Due to the cooperative efforts of this project, sediment delivery in the Deep Creek Basin has been drastically reduced. 

Dillenbaugh Creek Headwaters Project

Dillenbaugh Creek located in the mid-Chehalis Basin, flows in its natural channel through timberland and agricultural land.  Downstream channel segments running along Interstate 5 serve as drainage for local farms.  Eroding stream banks, little or no stream side riparian zones and degradation due to cattle access have endangered valuable Coho spawning and rearing habitat.  The goal of the Dillenbaugh Creek Headwaters Project is to control erosion, enhance summer and winter rearing areas and maintain spawning habitat.

This enhancement project is located on private property (Sabin farm) and involved the restoration of approximately 1,200 linear feet of stream.  Construction included fencing 2,400 feet of stream bank with 30ft. setbacks for riparian zone habitat, stabilizing ten eroding stream banks – over 400 linear feet, construction of a 20ft. by 40ft. off channel rearing area and the planting of approximately 250 trees.  Fencing installed by Columbia Pacific RC&D crews consisted of a 4-wire New Zealand high tinsel solar powered system.  To stop and repair stream bank erosion, work crews installed ten in-stream Woody Debris structures incorporating the use of willow wattles, willow staking and grass.  Logs were placed below the equipment crossing area to stabilize and support surrounding banks.  Cedar, Douglas Fir, Hemlock and Lodge Pole Pine were planted along the riparian zone to provide a canopy and stabilize stream temperatures.   The off channel rearing pond was built to imitate a natural occurring wetland.  The spring fed pond can also double as a livestock water access.

The Dillenbaugh Creek Headwaters Project is an excellent example of cooperative efforts in the blending of agricultural uses and salmonid habitat.  The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force, ECO Systems, landowners and volunteers worked in unison to ensure the success of this project.   Forty nine percent of the project cost was provided by in-kind matches of volunteer labor and materials for a total project cost of $18,000.

Eaton Creek

The Eaton Creek Project if a Family Forest Fish Passage Program Project.  As part of Washington State’s salmon recovery planning efforts, all large and small private forest landowners are required to fix artificial in stream fish barriers by 2016.  This project provided financial assistance to the small forest landowner for removing a fish blockage on their property. 

Eaton Creek is a tributary to the Chehalis River, and runs through the McDonald Land Company property which is located in South Elma.  The barrier removed was 33% passable.  It was a 39 foot long, 1.6 foot in diameter round concrete culvert under 8.5 foot of fill through road 18 feet wide.   The riparian area at this location has a lot of deciduous vegetation including alder, willow, cascara, vine maple, salmon berry, devil’s club, and dogwood.  Beyond the riparian zone, conifer forest stands are about 15 to 20 years old.  The watershed is currently in recovery from logging and with the new Timber Fish and Wildlife regulations the condition of the stream will stabilize and provide good juvenile Coho and resident Cutthroat Trout habitat.  There was a lot of large woody debris within the stream; mostly deciduous, but functioning well and creating reasonable diversity.  Beaver dams above the culvert will provide additional juvenile Coho habitat. 

The barrier culvert was replaced with a 7 foot diameter by 40 foot long round steel culvert.  Sand stone hardpan base was found near the bottom of the excavation.  A larger excavator was required to install this culvert because the culvert had to be embedded within the hardpan several feet.  Water controls and diversion were pumped around the project as directed.  Streambed materials were also installed.  All areas with disturbed soils were fertilized, grass seeded and mulched with a 6 inch layer of cultivated local grass hay free of noxious weeds.  The road was put back in working order with a layer of pit run gravel barrow and a top coat layer of ¾ minus crushed rock.  The CBFTF project coordinator supervised the entire construction process to insure fishery compliance for fish passage, fish screening and removal.  This project opened up over a mile of habitat for Coho and Cutthroat Trout.

Fagernus Riparian Restoration

The Fagernus Project is located outside of Rochester, Washington, on the Chehalis River. Due to heavy weather, a thirty to forty foot section of the riparian zone along the left bank of the river was washed away. Damage resulted in a cut bank of approximately 600 feet in length leaving a 12-foot sandy loam overburden on top of an outcropping of hard clay. The goal of the Fagernus Riparian Restoration Project focused on protecting Fall Chinook spawning grounds, riparian zones and private property by pulling back and armoring the exposed portion of the cut bank. In addition to pull back and armoring, a 75-foot buffer zone was planted directly behind and above the armored section. Native trees, shrubs and grasses were planted to establish a healthy, naturally functioning riparian area and minimize siltation.

The success of this project is attributed to a cooperative effort involving the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force, Thurston County Conservation District, Chehalis Indian Tribe, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Thurston County Farm Service Agency, Chehalis River Council, landowners Keith Fagernus and Phillip Ruege and concerned citizens. Over half of the project cost was supplied by donated labor and materials amounting to $16,983 for a total project cost of $32,241.

Forrest Road (a.k.a. Forrest Creek)

Funded through the Community Salmon Fund, a donation from I.P. Callison & Sons, and Grays Harbor County, this project is located on Forrest Creek, a tributry to Garrard Creek, which flows into the Upper Chehalis River.  The Forrest Road project addressed two stacked culverts under a roadway.  The lower culvert was a 4 foot wide, round, corrugated steel pipe.  It was undersized for the width of the stream.  The downstream end of this culvert was 18 inches higher than the upstream end, cutting its water capacity almost in half.  The upper culvert was 2 feet wide and acted as an overflow culvert to pass high peak flows.  In In May of 2004 the Lewis Conservation District surveyed the culvert while conducting a stream barrier assessment; at that time the lower culvert was exposed and had no material inside.  During the culvert assessment in March of 2005 by LWC Consulting for Grays Harbor County, the lower culvert was totally buried and water was only flowing through the rock road fill and the upper, smaller culvert.  The stream overtopped the road regularly during high flows at this site.  The objective of this fish barrier correction was to remove it, and install a larger culvert that would provide fish passage for all species and life stages, and allow natural streambed functions such as substrate and LWD transport.  The stream was re-sloped to accommodate the new culvert.  Riparian revegetation was done in the exposed construction area both upstream and downstream the new culvert.  In addition to these efforts, the existing road was widened, ditched, and asphalted.  The cost of this project is $70,632.

Gaddis Creek Culvert Replacement

Gaddis Creek is located at the end of the Grays Harbor County-maintained portion of Russell Road, and is a tributary to the Chehalis River entering on the left bank south of Porter.  This creek supports Coho, Cutthroat and Steelhead.  At the Grays Harbor County road crossing, an elevated and undersized culvert precluded fish access to the upper 4 miles of excellent spawning, off-channel rearing and over-wintering habitat for salmonids.  The project’s goal was to replace the blocking culvert with one that was fish passable for salmonids.

After checking with several culvert suppliers, a company in Colorado offered a new design in culvert construction; a structural plate arched culvert, at a cost not much higher than the local companies wanted for their eight feet diameter pipe.  This culvert provides the benefits of an arched culvert without the need for a concrete foundation.  It was easier and faster to install and was much less expensive.  The arched culvert came fully assembled and ready to place in the ground at delivery.  The price was excellent which allowed an increased size of 12 feet 4 inches wide by 7 feet 9 inches high. 

The Gaddis Creek Project was a great success.  Once the culvert was put in place and the stream was allowed to flow through the project site, juvenile Coho and resident Cutthroat Trout were observed moving back and forth through the project site and the culvert: a first in over 16 years.  It appeared as if the fish were celebrating along with everyone else. 

This project broke new ground in many ways.  The county road people were on site everyday taking pictures and observing the techniques used to install a fish-friendly culvert.  We used a new type of culvert that was cost effective and provided the water and fish a passage criterion that was needed for a 100 year flooding event without major disruption of the stream processes and was environmentally friendly.  A low impact track dump truck was used to haul away excavated materials with little to no impact to the stream nor surrounding habitat, and an excavator mounted tree cone was used to plant trees that were already 5 to 12 years old, thus escalating the riparian recovery by as many years.  The county and the local landowners were all very pleased with the project and thought their tax dollars were well spent.  The county engineering and road maintenance staff figured this repair would have cost the county close to $100,000 and would have taken a month to complete.  With private contractors it took four days and cost $35,000.

Since the completion of the project the CBFTF has periodically monitored the project site for fish passage and water flow through the culvert.  Grays Harbor County has also monitored the project to ensure proper function for the culvert in regard to road maintenance requirements.  Grays Harbor County has committed to long term monitoring of the function of the culvert and the project site, which falls under their routine maintenance for county roads. 

This project opened up 2 miles of habitat.

Galyean Culvert Replacement

The Galyean Project concentrated on replacing two fish barrier culverts on unnamed streams flowing through the Dale Galyean property. Mr. Galyean is a small forest landowner. The unnamed streams are tributaries to Garrard Creek, which is a tributary of the upper Chehalis River, near the Oakville area. The primary tributary had an 18 inch barrier culvert elevated roughly 3 feet at the outfall. This pipe was also undersized based on the stream bank full width. The replacement was a 6ft. round culvert made of 10 gage corrugated, galvanized steel, 40 ft. long. It was installed using the WDFW no-slope method. Streambed materials were added inside the pipe to match the existing streambed levels or 15 inches. The culvert was counter sunk below the streambed level 20% measuring from the downstream end. Both the upstream and downstream road banks bordering the pipe were armored with light loose rip-rap. The road was built up to accommodate 2ft. of fill over the new culvert. The exposed soils at the construction site were grass seeded and mulched.

A second culvert was installed on the same road, but on a separated, smaller unnamed tributary where the logging road accesses the county road. This was a 12 inch culvert elevated roughly 12 inches at the downstream end. The replacement was a 4ft. diameter culvert made of 12 gage, corrugated, galvanized steel, 40 ft. long. This culvert was installed using the WDFW no-slope method. The culvert was counter sunk below the streambed level 20% measuring at the downstream end. No streambed gravels were added because the intent is to allow the upstream area to re-grade, eliminating years of sediment that had accumulated upstream of the road. Two feet of road fill was added over the culvert to match the existing road grade.

Both culverts took a combined total of 4 days from start to finish including mobilization, culvert installation, backfilling, grass seeding and mulching. Surveying and drafted plans took another three days, which was done in early spring. The project could have been done in a timelier manner, but buried LWD was encountered from an ancient lake bed and the excavation became much larger than anticipated. Soft mud was exposed at the culvert bedding level, most likely the old lake bed bottom. This required considerably more culvert bedding materials and an increase to the overall cost of the project.

Gerhard

Funded through the Family Forest Fish Passage Program, and completed for $36,300, the Gerhard project addressed a fish barrier culvert near the mouth of Forest Creek, where it joins the lower end of Garrard Creek in the upper Chehalis Basin.  The barrier culvert was a 3 ft. diameter round concrete culvert that was sloped 3.98% (exceeding WDFW allowable slop of 1% by four times).  The barrier culvert also had no streambed materials inside of it.  It was undersized based on the bank full width of 8 feet.  Because of the low profile of the road, the correction was made with a squashed, corrugated, galvanized steel culvert with a 10 ft. span and 7 ft. rise.  The project area was treated for erosion control, mulched and seeded for grass.  The location being on a well wooded site required no riparian planting.  This project opened 5.26 miles of habitat for Coho and other resident and anadromous cutthroat trout. 

Lincoln Creek

Degradation due to loss of stream side vegetation, excessive in stream sediments, livestock access and erosion was identified in the North and South Forks of Lincoln Creek and in the Lincoln Creek sub-basin (northeast Lewis County).

The Lincoln Creek Project focuses on increasing wild salmonid populations by opening up more spawning habitat, raising emergence rates and increasing invertebrate populations as a valuable food source.  The success of this project is due to the coordination of funding from the Jobs for the Environment grants and Chehalis Indian Tribal funds.  Project participants also included the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force, US Fish and Wildlife, ECO Systems and volunteer labor. 

The Lincoln Creek Habitat Restoration Project was carried out in two segments, the North Fork of Lincoln Creek and the South fork of Lincoln Creek:

Lincoln Creek, North Fork

Restoration efforts on the North Fork involved the placement of multiple tree revetments within eroding bends of the creek.  This procedure allowed the stabilization of 925 linear feet of stream bank.  Canopy restoration consisted of the planting of conifer and native tree species to diversify the canopy and provide year-round temperature control.  Larger Douglas Firs and Western Red Cedars were planted to compete for sunlight with the Reed Canary Grass.  Seedlings of shade tolerant species, including Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce and Lodge Pole Pine were planted under the Red Alder canopy.  North Fork restoration efforts have successfully stopped stream bank erosion and sediment degradation along this section of Lincoln Creek.  The project was completed for $12,600 with almost half of the total project cost ($5,920) accounted for in volunteer labor.

Lincoln Creek, South Fork

Restoration efforts on the South Fork of Lincoln Creek involved the placement of 75 feet of root wad revetment along the eroding banks.  Installed after floods had washed out over 20 feet of field, the revetments utilized willow wattles and stakes to enhance fish habitat and stabilize bank materials. 

To stop stream bed degradation and siltation due to livestock access, fencing was installed on over 4,200 feet of stream bank using 25 foot setbacks.   A hardened cattle access with gating was installed to protect the stream banks at the water access point.  Restoration efforts on the South Fork of Lincoln Creek were supplemented with an amazing amount of volunteer labor amounting to $32,175 of the total project cost of $40,709.

In all, the Lincoln Creek Habitat Restoration Project facilitated:  the planting of over two hundred 4 foot to 6 foot Douglas Firs and Western Red Cedars; the under-planting of two hundred Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce, and Lodge Pole Pine; the installation of thirty-two vegetation plots for diversity in Reed Canary Grass dominated riparian zone; and the broadcast stalking of over 4,000 Willow and Red-Osier Dogwoods.

Lincoln Creek Headwaters

Heavy streambed sedimentation has been identified as the prime-contributing factor to spawning ground degradation in Lincoln Creek headwaters.  Poorly constructed roads and eroding railroad grades have allowed surface water run off and bank sloughing directly into the stream bed.  Over use by vehicles has caused the knockdown of stream banks and compacted forest soils leaving bare soils exposed to eroding forces. 

The scope of work for the Lincoln Creek Headwaters Project involved 1.5 miles of road abandonment. Restoration efforts consisted of road obliteration, bridge removal, the excavation of ten water bars and two tank traps. Two impassable culverts were also removed which opened up several thousand linear feet of usable spawning and rearing habitat. All disturbed areas were seeded with native, shade tolerant, cool weather grasses.

The Lincoln Creek Headwaters Project was funded by the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&W).  Project oversight was provided by Chehalis Indian Nation and Washington State Department of Natural Resources. 

Mill Creek

The Mill Creek project is located along the Chehalis River by Littell, Washington.  Historically a wetland, the project area had been cleared and filled to provide pastureland for livestock.

Habitat restoration efforts at Mill Creek are twofold.  The initial focus involved the exclusion of livestock by installing 980 feet of fencing with 15-foot setbacks along the stream bank.  Subsequent steps involved restoring the riparian canopy to provide cover for rearing and temperature control during summer months. The wetland riparian zone was restored through the planting of one hundred Oregon Ash, twenty-five Western Red Cedars and 2,000 Willow stakes.

Labor and funding for the Mill Creek Project were provided by Jobs for the Environment, a Columbia-Pacific RC&D program at a total project cost of $1,280. 

Skookumchuck

The Skookumchuck Habitat Project concentrates on Johnson Creek and Salmon Creek, which flow into the Skookumchuck River, a tributary of the Chehalis River near Tenino, Washington.  These creeks exhibited severe sedimentation problems that degraded spawning habitat for resident populations of Steelhead, Cutthroat Trout, Coho and Chinook salmon.

To repair the degradation in this area over 30.5 miles of road and trails were treated, over thirty-three acres were treated for erosion control intervention and revegetation and ninety-nine drainage structures were placed.  To accomplish a task as large as this, a working partnership was developed between Weyerhaeuser, Washington Department of Natural Resources, Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force and Ecosystem Consultants.  Subsequent partnerships included Northwest Pipeline, Olympic Pipeline, the Bonneville Power Administration, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Pacific Power and Light, Rainier School District and private property owners.

To manage the project it was broken down into four phases.  Phases one and two consisted of trail and road abandonment and reforestation. Techniques used in these first two phases included downing trees, restoring stream banks, grass seeding and water barring rutted trails to decrease runoff down compacted soils.  Large boulders were placed around gates and illegal accesses on the southern perimeter of the project.  Subsequent plantings of shade tolerant/non-conifer prohibiting grasses and clover seed mix and under-plantings of conifer facilitated the natural revegetation process.  Northwest Upland Restoration of Elma performed this segment of the project.  It is interesting to note that this contractor was the first Displaced Forest Product Worker, trained with Jobs for the Environment funding, to start his own business in the state of Washington.

Project segments along the northern boarder were performed by D&R Enterprises of Centralia, Washington.  Illegal access coming down from the Olympic Pipeline was blocked and the pipeline easement was obstructed about every three hundred feet.  Large boulders were used in place of organic debris deposits making illegal ORV access virtually impossible.  Five major stream crossings on this easement were restored.  Crews worked closely with Rainier High School representatives to develop an environmentally friendly trail system in order to maintain the school sponsored family fun runs.

Phase three involved road drainage upgrades.  Work crews began on the Bonneville Power Administration easement road.  The easement had no ditch lines, deep eroding trenches and three stream crossings without culverts or bridges.  Drainage upgrade activities included ditch line and culvert clean outs, culvert placements and sediment trap installations. Gilk Construction (Winlock, Washington) and Northwest Upland Restoration performed construction.

Phase four of the project involved the fencing and stabilization of one thousand feet of the Skookumchuck River.  Stream bed degradation caused by livestock access caused heavy siltation and erosion problems.  Wood and rock barbs were constructed and placed strategically to push the stream back towards its original channel. 

At a total project cost of $1,156,000, the Skookumchuck Watershed Restoration project has utilized over 2,650 man-hours of employment. It provides an excellent example of  cooperative results between private industry, timber concerns and industrial concerns.

Sterns Creek Habitat Restoration

The Sterns Creek Habitat Restoration Project, located near Ada, Washington focused on repairing degradation due to livestock access, improving the stream canopy, controlling excessive stream sedimentation and repairing stream side vegetation.  Livestock was held back from the stream bed with the installation of a hardened cattle access to the creek and watering ponds using fifty cubic yards of spawning size gravel.  Four thousand feet of fencing was installed along the stream bank with an average setback of over twenty-five feet. A new waterline to the pasture was installed to provide livestock watering access.

Riparian restoration efforts included the planting of fifty 4 foot to 6 foot Douglas Firs and Western Red Cedars and the under planting of 100 Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce and Lodge Pole Pine seedlings. A one-acre off-channel rearing pond and wetland habitat was created.  The pond was fed by spring water piped into the area.  Three spawning weirs were installed in the stream bed to release sixty cubic yards of spawning sized gravel. Project crews and volunteers worked together to complete this successful project at a cost of $7,340.

Winkleman Creek

The Winkleman Creek Project is a Family Forest Fish Passage Program Project, which offered financial assistance to the small forest landowner for removing a fish blockage on their property prior to 2016.  The Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force took a sponsorship role with the FFFPP to aid various landowners in the Chehalis Basin in their efforts to correct fish barriers on their land.  As part of this, the Winkleman Crfeek project was completed under this program.

Winkleman Creek is located just west of Elma, in Grays Harbor County off the end of Winkleman Road.  Winkleman Creek is a tributary to Metcalf Slough and Camp Creek, which are tributaries to lower Chehalis River.  The culvert barrier on this property was a 33 foot long, 3.2 feet in diameter corrugated round steel culvert under 5 feet of fill through an 11 foot wide road.  The area established above this juvenile barrier culvert was found to have good shade and riparian cover, ample with large woody debris for fish habitat.  It is ideal for juvenile Coho rearing and native Cutthroat Trout.  The stream has good spawning gravels in several locations below the culvert with gravel sizes of ¼ inch to 2-inch rock.  The substrate upstream from culvert is primarily predominantly fine sediment within beaver ponds, with pockets of exposed gravels between ponds and in the headwaters.  Gravels would provide good resident trout spawning areas.  Roughly 15% of the stream above the culvert is potential spawning habitat.  Much of the stream is sediment impacted because of low gradient.  The stream gradient averages less than 1% for most of its length with some steeper gradients running short distances where spawning gravels are exposed. 

The barrier culvert was replacement with a 40 foot long, 7 feet in diameter round steel pipe.  All areas with disturbed soils were fertilized, grass seeded and mulched with a 6 inch layer of cultivated local grass hay free of noxious weeds.  Erosion controls, stream sediment controls, fish screening, water controls, and diversion pumped around the project were performed.  This project opened up over 2 miles of upstream habitat for Coho, Chinook, Chum, Steelhead and searun/resident Cutthroat Trout.

Vance Creek Bridge (Fish Barrier Removal)

Funded through the Community Salmon Fund by NFWF and the SRFB, this project replaced a fish barrier culvert on private property just upstream from the Vance Creek County Park using volunteers from the community, local businesses, volunteer organizations, local school districts and local landowners. A 4 ft. in diameter culvert was replaced with a bridge donated by Grays Harbor County. The installed bridge allows the 13 foot wide stream to function normally without restrictions and has increased over 3 miles of fish habitat for spawning and rearing. Now corrected, the stream no longer backs up during high flows, trapping sediments, impounding spawning gravels, flooding neighboring properties, or stranding juvenile salmonids at water rescission.

The problem addressed by the project was a fish barrier culvert that was grossly undersized, hindering fish passage to nearly 5 miles of habitat, and disrupting the natural functions of a streams morphology and substrate and LWD transport. In addition, the culvert slowed water flow allowing backwater ponding which greatly increased water temperatures during warm summer months. Water temperatures near 70 degrees above the barrier culvert. A large plunge pool at the culvert outlet also increased water temperatures during summer low flows. The culvert was identified as a barrier in a recent fish barrier evaluation project funded by the SRFB and completed by the Mason Conservation District. Barrier culverts are listed as a high priority in the Chehalis Basin Limiting Factors Analysis, and barrier culverts are considered a high priority in the Chehalis Basin Watershed Management Plan and the Salmon Recovery Strategy Plan developed by the Chehalis Basin Lead Entity process. The barrier assessment completed by Mason C.D. identified over 1200 barrier culverts within the Lower Chehalis Tributaries. The Limiting Factors Analysis and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) recommend bridges instead of culverts whenever possible as the best correction for a fish barrier, personal communication, Pat Powers, lead engineer, WDFW.

To replace this barrier culvert the first thing that was done was a total survey of the barrier culvert site to determine bank width, stream slope, and topography of the surrounding area. From this information the bridge length or culvert size was determined. The survey showed elevation breaking points where stream treatments were necessary and LWD placement was most effective for grade controls and fish habitat.

Second in line is filling out the appropriate form and obtaining the required permitting. Agency site visits and project adjustments were made based on agency input for the bridge installation. Once the design was approved by WDFW then a contractor was solicited. The actual bridge installation was postponed until October to allow the students and teachers an opportunity to observe how the machinery works and how the bridge was installed based on their design plan.

Lastly was the actual removal of the barrier culvert and installation of the bridge. Equipment was moved in, the site was grubbed and excavated to top of culvert. The old culvert was excavated from stream, the banks were sloped and rip rap was added for under the bridge site. Eco-blocks were installed for bridge footings, and three bridge slabs were installed. Equipment was moved out, the site was graveled at both approaches, cleaned up, and exposed soils were seeded, fertilized and mulched. Students will continue the monitor the project for several years until the stream has stabilized.

The project benefit is providing fish passage upstream during most stream flow conditions for all fish and aquatic species during all life stages. In addition, the stream will be allowed to flow more naturally providing more natural substrate transport, and eventually wood transport. Lowering the stream profile allows the culverts immediately upstream under the freeway to function properly by slowly moving substrate built up of streambed materials downstream and eventually out of the system. This process allows the stream to flow with slightly more velocity which will help in removing these streambed materials. With slightly faster velocities the stream should become more channelized, moving the water through the flat floodplain and reducing temperatures. This is a flat, low-gradient reach of the stream and any disruption of the stream function, such as this barrier culvert, can have extremely detrimental effects on water temperature and stream morphology. The temperature increases can effect salmon survival for several miles downstream. The temperatures through this reach of Vance Creek are as much a barrier as the culvert. The removal of the culvert corrects both fish passage and temperature increases. Combined with the existing riparian planting project the stream should have lower temperatures as each year passes. The shrubs will provide moderate shade until the large trees can grow high enough for the primary shading.

To propose stream regrading and incision is the opposite of what we usually try to strive for in this basin because most of the stream and rivers are incised and have been cut off from their flood plains. In this particular situation, however, the appropriate correction is opposite of what we normally try to achieve. Each stream, each reach of a stream, is different and the necessary corrections to return the stream to its natural function requires careful consideration, and standard cookbook protocols may not work in all situations. Some of the larger tributaries in the Lower Chehalis are starting to experience similar problems due to large amounts of substrate transport from the headwaters.

The removal of the culvert corrects both fish passage and temperature increases. Combined with the existing riparian planting project the stream should have lower temperatures as each year passes. The shrubs will provide moderate shade until the large trees can grow high enough for the primary shading. This will take several decades. The understanding at this time is the Elma School district intends to continue the Vance Creek studies indefinitely.

Vance Creek Riparian

Funded by the SRFB, this project provides 12,500 feet of fencing and 16,000 feet of riparian planting to improve fish habitat in Vance Creek, a tributary to the Chehalis River. The creek is 8.6 miles long with 6 miles of documented salmonid spawning and rearing habitat. The first of three phases was completed this year with the help of volunteer and student labor from the Elma School District and the support of the Chehalis Basin Education Consortium. Over the next two years this project will continue working with students, other area volunteer groups and the landowners of the lower portion of Vance Creek to maintain riparian plantings and install fences to exclude livestock from the creek.

At left, Taryn Kayser and her teacher, Scott Rockey break for a picture while planting native trees along the banks of Vance Creek. Taryn is one of several students that volunteered to plant approximately 400 trees to assist with the riparian effort for this area.

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