DESCRIPTION
This restoration project consisted of replacing an undersized, deteriorating culvert, located on Forest Service Road 2922, with a properly sized culvert which meets Northwest Forest Plan standards for Q100 discharge and debris passage. The culvert is located on a non-fish bearing stream which is an unnamed tributary to the North Fork Calawah River in Clallam County. The culvert is located on the hillside directly above anadromous fish habitat in the North Fork Calawah. This section of the North Fork Calawah River is considered refugia habitat and is mostly within Late Successional Reserve (LSR) of the USFS National Forest. The culvert has a deep fill and a culvert failure will deliver thousands of cubic yards of fine and coarse sediment to anadromous fish habitat in the mainstem.
The replacement of the undersized culvert at the FS 2922 MP 2.3 crossing with a properly sized culvert restored stream hydrology in this small tributary. The 10' culvert significantly decreased the likelihood that sediment and wood debris, generated during storm events, could plug the inlet causing water to pond behind the inlet and eventually causing road fill to fail. Fill failure could generate several thousand cubic yards of sediment, which due to the steep tributary gradient would be delivered directly to anadromous fish habitat in the mainstem North Fork Calawah. This segment of the upper North Fork Calawah mainstem is considered as refugia habitat for winter steelhead, fall coho and anadromous and resident cutthroat trout.