Two miles of upper Beaver Creek will be getting large woody-debris structures to improve habitat for endangered steelhead by adding pools and enhanced floodplain storage.
Construction on the habitat project, carried out jointly by the Yakama Nation Fisheries Upper Columbia Habitat Restoration Program and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), will start in early September.
Project engineers anticipate it will take four to five weeks to place almost 500 pieces of large wood in the main creek and side channels. Workers will begin transporting wood to the site in August.
At the upper end of the project area, an existing 600-foot-long side channel will be reconnected to the mainstem of the creek by removing a levee and floodplain fill. That work will eliminate one campsite in WDFW’s Beaver Creek Campground at the intersection of Upper Beaver Creek Road and Lester Road, but four new campsites will be constructed.
The 2-mile stretch on the creek slated for the work runs south from the campground to the snowplow turnaround on Upper Beaver Creek Road. Disturbed areas will be revegetated with native plants.
Beaver Creek is a high-priority stream to support recovery of Columbia River steelhead, which are listed as endangered in the Methow subbasin.
The project is funded in part by the 2008 Columbia River Fish Accords with utilities that operate the Columbia River dams.
For more information, contact Jarred Johnson, project manager for the Yakama Nation’s habitat restoration program. at 996-5005, ext. 3.
