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1. A narrative description of the project including
a. Background on the problem that generated the project.
This project involved the replacement of a culvert across the lower portion of Reflection Creek, a small tributary stream to West Fork Coal Creek on the North Fork Nehalem River. The goal of this project was to improve juvenile and adult salmonid passage to upstream habitat; reduce bank erosion and prevent road flooding and potential road failure.
The once existing culvert was undersized, had a gradient and a jump that hinders adult passage and was a barrier to juvenile passage The culvert outflow was angled towards an opposing bank, causing significant erosion. The culvert was also at high risk of failure during winter flows.
The Lower Nehalem Watershed Council requested OWEB cost share funds to purchase an arch culvert, road fill materials and cover installation costs. A new culvert was properly sized and placed within the stream/road bed, designed to handle winter flows, provide unconditional fish passage and redirect flow away from the eroding bank. The project was installed according to the OR. Aquatic Habitat Restoration guidelines and current fish passage standards under the direction of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and according to designs created by the Natural Resource Conservation Service Engineering Department.b. A description and explanation of any changes to the original proposal
The projects was implemented according to engineers design and in compliance with removal fill permit however it did take longer to implement the culvert replacement project then was originally estimated for the following reasons... The backhoe used to excavate soils and old culvert and to place fill around new culvert was undersized and the method for compacting the fill material around the new culvert was very time consuming. The combination of the two activities doubled the implementation time from 2 days to 4. In addition, the original budget proposal over estimated the materials cost and under estimated the contractors time which results in our requesting an amendment to the project budget to reflect actual expenditures. Over-all budget expenditures did not exceed amount appropriated for project.
c. Lessons learned from the project
Sediment control during the implementation of a project of this nature is of the utmost importance somebody must maintain a constant vigilance in relation to this aspect of the project throughout implementation and beyond until project soils are stabilized.
Always place your sediment control structures below the stream grade of your project to avoid back watering the project.d. Recommendations for more effective implementation of similar projects
A competent Project Manager is essential improperly designed and/or installed culverts will result, in time, in the re-occurrence of the similar fish passage and potential road failure issues at any given site. We were fortunate to have the Natural Resource Conservation Service Engineer - Matt Rosener design and act as Project Manger for the duration of this project. He was professional, competent and easy to work with. His designs were flawless and with his over site the contractor was able to implement the project according to design. He was on site during the majority of the installation and was able to provide the appropriate guidance when situations arose (situations will always arise no matter how well designed a project is). He worked well with ODF&W and took into consideration all of their suggestions for designing for unconditional fish passage, sediment control and reducing mortality rates of aquatic species during installation. He also has taken responsibility for monitoring the effectiveness of the installation as it relates to the structural integrity of the project.
2. Provide photo documentation. See photo album
3. Submit an Oregon Plan Restoration Project Reporting Form
An Oregon Plan Restoration Form was completed and submitted with map to Oregon Plan project database managers.
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