DESCRIPTION
The Oakhurst Barrier Correction Project is a two-phased project that will correct four individual fish-passage barriers located in the middle of the McDonald Creek Watershed in Elma, Washington. This project is part of the broader, watershed-wide McDonald Creek restoration effort which has successfully restored natural coho salmon runs to McDonald Creek by correcting a barrier culvert south of Elma and at the hospital stream restoration site.
The Oakhurst Barrier Correction Project is phase one of a two-phased project to correct 4 individual fish-passage barriers located in the middle of the McDonald Creek watershed in Elma, Washington. This work will also contributes to a broader restoration effort to restore passage to the entirety of McDonald Creek. This first phase will correct a barrier culvert under Oakhurst Street in Elma as well as address a separate sheet flow problem that developed at the stream restoration site behind the hospital. The corrected culvert is a concrete arch pipe with a current 15 inch outfall drop and slope of 6.3%. The correction will be a low profile bottomless arch culver. To correct the sheet flow barrier, large rock and coarse streambed gravel will be installed to reduce flow velocities, creating chutes and runs with minor pooling. The future second phase is to remove two culverts upstream on private property and would be proposed a later grant cycle.