Williams Creek Erosion Prevention Implementation Project in Mitteldorf Preserve
An important fisheries restoration project is on track to get underway this summer at Mitteldorf Preserve. Funded in part by a grant from the California Department of Fish and Game, with additional funding provided by the Land Trust and the Santa Lucia Conservancy, the Williams Creek Erosion Prevention Implementation Project will help protect steelhead trout habitat from further degradation caused by run-off from old and poorly constructed dirt logging roads. The project is a collaboration between the Land Trust and the Santa Lucia Conservancy, which owns a portion of the roads. Pacific Watershed Associates (PWA), an organization with certified soil erosion and sediment control specialists, have been hired to provide technical support on the project. The construction phase of the project is scheduled to begin in August 2010.
According to Cammy Chabre, Conservation Projects Manager at the Land Trust, Mitteldorf Preserve encompasses about 85% of the Williams Creek watershed, which is a tributary to San Jose Creek, a significant salmonid-bearing stream for the Central Coast. “Sediment impairs water quality, increases temperature and decreases dissolved oxygen,” Chabre says. She adds that the fine sediment from road use also covers the creeks’ bottom substrate needed by spawning and rearing fish.
The project will involve storm-proofing 3.6 miles of road, where old, poorly designed culverts habitually cause sediment to enter the watershed during storms or flood events. PWA will design several site-specific treatments to mitigate erosion, including creating dips in certain road areas where the water is sheeted off to the side, aligning culverts with the natural stream channel, and replacing or in some cases even removing culverts. Treating 48 identified erosion prevention sites at Mitteldorf will result in the reduction of total sediment delivery potential by approximately 5,600 cubic yards over the next decade.
Chabre says that this project is a good example of collaboration on behalf of stewardship. Once the project is completed, members and volunteers will have a chance to get involved. While members’ access to Mitteldorf will be limited until the project is completed, Chabre says that “following the project’s implementation we will be working to replant select denuded areas with salvaged native vegetation, and we look forward to partnering with BSLT members and volunteers at future winter planting events.”
You can help protect the plant and animal communities of Mitteldorf Preserve.
