MILL CREEK RESTORATION

Performed three different types of stream restoration to Mill Creek and two unnamed tributaries to Mill Creek located in Pacific County.

Culvert-This project was funded by the Family Forest and Fish Passage Program (FFFPP), which is funded by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The FFFPP is a program set up for small forest landowners to partially or fully fund the replacement of fish barrier culverts. This is a small unnamed tributary to Mill Creek, located in the Willapa River Watershed in Pacific County. The culvert was listed as a 100 % fish blocking culvert. The project replaced an 18-inch fish barrier culvert with a 7-foot fish passage culvert. Replacement of this fish barrier culvert opened up 1.2 miles of fish habitat. A streambed gravel mix was placed inside of the new culvert and large woody debris (LWD) was placed downstream of the culvert.

Bridge-This project was also funded by the FFFPP program. It is a large unnamed tributary to Mill Creek, located in the Willapa River Watershed in Pacific County. The old culvert was listed as a partial fish barrier. The replacement of this fish barrier culvert opened 6.6 miles of fish
habitat. The old culvert was a bottomless, 62-inch culvert, set on 54-inch wide footings. The footings had become completely exposed and the stream was running under the footings. Due to the small size of the culvert, a large scour hole had developed just upstream of the culvert, severely comprising the integrity of the road. The bankfull width of the stream channel is 14-feet wide. The old, undersized culvert was replaced with a full-spanning 40-foot long steel and
concrete bridge. The upstream channel was lined with Large Woody Debris (LWD) and rootwads and a streambed gravel mix was placed 75-feet upstream and 25-feet downstream of the bridge. Vic Hoffman with Silver Lake Timber was the contractor for the culvert and the bridge and did an excellent job.

Large Woody Debris Placement-This project was funded by a Fish America grant obtained by the Pacific County Conservation District for the landowner. Mill Creek is a large, high energy tributary to the Willapa River, located in Pacific County. The lack of large woody debris (LWD) is a major limiting factor for salmon throughout the Willapa Watershed. Placement of LWD in streams that are gravel-deficient is viewed as the appropriate strategy for capturing, stabilizing, and storing spawning gravels, reducing sediments, and creating pools and riffles. Historic logging practices used splash dams on Mill Creek to transport logs to the mills located downstream. The splash dams left Mill Creek scoured down to bedrock and with a severe lack of functional and key LWD pieces. This project included the placement of 64 pieces of LWD in approximately 300 feet of Mill Creek. The landowner provided 50 pieces of LWD and DNR provided 14 pieces of LWD. The project cost was: $50,000.00. John Evans with NDC Timber was the contractor for the LWD placement and did a great job.

KES worked closely with the landowner, Pacific County Conservation District, WDFW, and DNR through all phases of these projects from permitting to design and construction.

All three aspects of the restoration took 1 month and were completed on September 30, 2008. Monitoring on the LWD structures has taken place take place 5 in the first year and will continue 5-10 times a year for the next 5 years.