Culverts can be barriers to fish passage
June 2010 culvert construction on Whitshed Road helps aid fish passage.
2010 Eccles Creek Culvert Restoration Project
Culverts are the metal tunnels that cross under roadways, helping salmon and other aquatic inhabitants access habitat both up and downstream of our roadways. Fish passage can be inhibited when a culvert is not properly constructed or maintained and it is important we take note to fix such barriers.
The old Eccles Creek culvert was determined by Alaska Department Fish & Game to be impassable to fish. The twenty foot wide stream channel was being forced into a perched 8-foot pipe. DOWL HKM, engineering firm, surveyed the watershed and confirmed that often the water flow was at a rate too swift for juvenile Coho to swim through.
The Copper River Watershed Project used funding from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, United States Fish & Wildlife Service, and National Fish & Wildlife Foundation to install a 19-foot arched embedded culvert. The new culvert will reduce the speed of the water flowing through the culvert so fish may pass through the 103 foot long culvert.
The new Eccles Creek culvert is a steel arch connected to a flat invert. The contractor assembled the culvert in place after excavation. A temporary culvert was used to carry the water of Eccles Creek during construction (smaller 60" culvert pictured above).
The goal of stream restoration is to restore a water body to its natural state. After the contractor installed the new 19' arch culvert at Eccles Creek, the contractor filled the culvert 2' to 3' with substrate to simulate natural stream conditions.
2010 Whiskey Creek Culvert Restoration Project
Culverts are the culprits in the loss of fish passage, but culverts can also cause hydrology problems. Whiskey Creek is a tributary to Eccles Creek and the culvert carrying flows under Whitshed Road has caused flooding problems in the neighborhood. With help from the neighbors on Whitshed Road, the Copper River Watershed Project also replaced two culverts to improve drainage and restore Coho rearing habitat on Eccles Creek's tributary, Whiskey Creek (see downstream side of Whiskey Creek culvert pictured below).
