{"id":26573,"date":"2024-10-31T19:16:58","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T19:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/?p=26573"},"modified":"2024-10-31T19:16:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T19:16:58","slug":"the-best-culvert-for-salmon-one-they-dont-know-theyre-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/2024\/10\/31\/the-best-culvert-for-salmon-one-they-dont-know-theyre-in\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Culvert for Salmon? One They Don\u2019t Know They\u2019re In."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Washington\u2019s Olympic Peninsula, we\u2019re sizing restoration work for long-term success. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one thing to see the specs for Anton Creek’s new culvert. At 72 feet long and 24 feet wide, this road-spanning structure is sized for the flood events of the future. On paper, the sleek design looks impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what really impresses is watching this freshwater thoroughfare come together<\/strong>. This summer, Wild Salmon Center Habitat Project Manager Betsy Krier<\/a> spent weeks on Anton Creek, observing massive excavators move mattress-sized pieces of aluminum into place in this Sol Duc River tributary\u2014pieces then expertly assembled by construction professionals in orange vests and hardhats.<\/p>\n\n\n

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This summer, Wild Salmon Center Habitat Project Manager Betsy Krier (far right) and engineers from KPFF watch construction crews assemble what will ultimately be a 72-foot-long, 24-foot wide nature-mimicking culvert on Anton Creek in Washington’s Quillayute River Basin. (PC: WSC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On September 20\u2014right on time\u2014crews wrapped up work in this key salmon spawning and rearing stream in the larger Quillayute Basin<\/strong>. The sight of Anton Creek now flowing freely under Bear Creek Road was enough to make Krier a bit misty-eyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor months of the year, the rusty old pipes here were blocking fish from some truly excellent upstream habitat,\u201d Krier says. \u201cNow fish can get upstream all year. And they won\u2019t even know they\u2019re going under a road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within minutes of reconnecting the temporarily rerouted stream to its restored channel, Krier and WSC colleague Nicole Rasmusssen<\/a> spotted young lamprey wriggling up the free-flowing creek\u2014likely the first such lamprey journey in a very long time<\/strong>. That immediate payoff, Krier says, testifies to the enormous care and skill that construction crews and engineers alike brought to this ambitious project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Within minutes of reconnecting the stream to its restored channel, Krier and Rasmussen spotted young lamprey wriggling up the free-flowing creek.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRestoration work on this level is supremely technical,\u201d Krier says. \u201cThe crews at Bruch & Bruch Construction knocked it out of the park, and the KPFF engineers were right here beside me a lot of the time. Every detail, every problem, had an expert right on it the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Anton Creek, Quillayute River basin wild coho, Chinook, steelhead, and lamprey now have year-round access to upstream habitat. And that\u2019s just the half of it. Just 200 feet north of Anton Creek this summer, Bruch & Bruch crews simultaneously installed a second, almost equally giant new culvert in neighboring Cedar Creek. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, the Anton and Cedar Creek projects reopened roughly five miles of excellent spawning and rearing habitat for salmon in the larger Quillayute River Basin<\/strong>. And like Anton Creek, Cedar Creek\u2019s new culvert is also built for modern climate realities\u2014for more robust and higher-than-average 100-year-floods, not the floods of the past. This forward-thinking design not only benefits residents near Bear Creek Road, but community members across the Quillayute watershed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cRestoration work on this level is supremely technical. Every detail, every problem, had an expert right on it the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\nWild Salmon Center Habitat Project Manager Betsy Krier<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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Crews removing Anton Creek’s old culverts. At just five and six feet in diameter, these rusty, undersized culverts clogged easily and became impassable for fish and lamprey for months of the year. (PC: WSC.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThese projects aren\u2019t one-offs,\u201d Krier says. \u201cThey\u2019re part of our larger plan to target those fish passage projects that offer wild fish and Washington Coast communities the absolute highest return on investment.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To build this high-value pipeline, WSC and our partners in the Cold Water Connection Campaign<\/a> have identified, mapped, and prioritized projects that meet that high ROI threshold<\/strong>. Then we shepherd a shortlist of the very best projects through design, funding, and construction\u2014aiming to maximize long-term benefits for both wild fish and coastal residents. Each project we complete moves WSC and our partners closer to the campaign’s ambitious 10-year goal: 125 river miles reopened for Washington Coast wild fish<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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At 24 feet in diameter, Anton Creek’s new culvert is roughly five times the size of the rusty, aging pipes it replaced\u2014even with its three-foot bed of sediment, gravel, and wood. Pictured here: equipment operators moving into place starter gravel, boulders and vegetation to aid fish as they pass through. (PC: WSC.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Wild Salmon Center and our partners in the Cold Water Connection Campaign aim to reopen 125 river miles for Washington Coast wild fish over 10 years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProblematic fish barriers aren\u2019t just problems for salmon,\u201d Krier says. \u201cAcross the Olympic Peninsula, we know there are thousands of aging and undersized culverts, which can mean road washouts, flood damage, and other headaches for the people living near these rivers and creeks. For both people and fish, we need long-term solutions like this.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As culverts age and climate change intensifies weather events, WSC and our Cold Water Connection Campaign partners are speeding and scaling our work across the Olympic Peninsula<\/strong>. We’re motivated by the fact that Washington Coast salmon strongholds like the Hoh, Queets, Quillayute and Quinault rivers<\/a> have the greatest likelihood of providing strong runs of wild salmon and steelhead into the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n