Mattole Restoration Council

Mattole Restoration Council
November 15, 2006


The main objective of the Mattole Restoration Council's (MRC) Good Roads Clear Creeks (GRCC) program is to reduce sediment runoff that is harming salmon habitat, while improving private roads. This season has been particularly exciting and productive, with restoration projects completed at more than a hundred sites in the Mattole River watershed, from Four Corners to Ettersburg. These projects generally consist of storm-proofing road crossings, although they often incorporate stream channel stabilization upstream or downstream from the crossing. The projects will reduce future sediment delivery into the Mattole River and its tributaries, helping to obtain the ultimate goal of healthy salmon runs.

A team of local contractors has been hired to perform heavy equipment work for these projects. The MRC has matched specific projects with particular contractors, based on experience and equipment type. The GRCC program attempts to address every erosion site with a unique approach tailor-made for that site. In some cases, small machinery is used to have a lighter impact on the landscape, leaving more of the vegetation surrounding a sediment source. At larger sites, full-sized excavators are used to remove sediment and return stream channels to their natural gradients. At most sites, rip rap is used to stabilize the channel and reduce sediment delivery.

This bridge in the upper Thomson Creek watershed was installed by the MRC in August 2006. It replaced a culvert crossing with sediment delivery potential and also acted as a migration barrier for adult salmonids at high stream flows. Photo: Angie Frerichs

Beyond sediment reduction, an exciting aspect of the GRCC program is opening stream habitat for salmonids by removing migration barriers (such as culverts) and installing natural-bottom crossing structures such as bridges or "bottomless" pipe arch culverts. This year, one bridge was installed in Thomson Creek, and a bridge and pipe arch installations are currently underway in Van Arken Creek, both tributaries to the Mattole River headwaters near Whitethorne. The MRC looks forward to finishing the decade with strong work seasons to benefit fish and local residents. Work will continue in the Mattole headwaters, moving slowly downriver over the next few years.

If you have any questions regarding the GRCC program, please contact us at (707) 986-1078 or visit www.mattole.org


This article can be found online at www.treesfoundation.org/publications/article-256

Forest & River News is produced by Trees Foundation. For more information contact:
Mattole Restoration Council
P.O. Box 160
Petrolia, CA 95558
Email: mrc@mattole.org
Phone: (707) 629-3514 Fax: (707) 629-3577