Steven’s Creek Fish Passage Improvement

This restoration project is located on the mainstem of WF Stevens Creek, which joins the mainstem Steven’s Creek, one of three primary tributaries to the Humptulips River in Grays Harbor County. The fish passage barrier consists of two perched corrugated culverts that are beginning to rust out on the downstream ends. These barriers are considered 0% passable using WDFW 2009 guidelines due to outfall drop. The crossing site is located in a low gradient reach and wetlands are present upstream and downstream and the fill depth over the culverts is minimal (approx. 3 feet). The project will remove the last barrier within the WF Stevens Creek watershed, allowing unrestricted access to over 4 miles of stream habitat and over 165 acres of mapped wetlands. The Chehalis Basin Salmon Habitat Restoration and Preservation Work Plan for WRIAs 22 and 23 identifies correcting fish passage barriers as a Tier 1 Action within the Humptulips watershed. The Steven’s Creek site ranks in the top 7% of all sites in the Chehalis basin for potential habitat utilization. The low cost of the project and the substantial habitat gains make this project very cost effective and provide a substantial return on investment. Construction will be in the summer of 2012 to coincide with the low flow periods to reduce amount of water isolation of sediment and erosion control required at the site. Healthy coho stocks will benefit from the removal of the culverts and installation of a 50′ bridge.