This project will replace a fish barrier culvert with a bottomless arch culvert and natural channel. The project is located at Baxter Creek (type 3 stream, 3.5 square mile basin), about ½ mile upstream of the confluence with Arkansas Creek (type 1 stream). Salmon recovery in the Arkansas Creek watershed is supported by the Arkansas Creek Watershed Management Plan (Cowlitz County Conservation District, 1995), which includes improved agricultural and forest practices, and the replacement of another fish blockage culvert at Monahan Creek (scheduled for 2002). According to the Salmon And Steelhead Habitat Limiting Factors - Water Resource Inventory Area 26 (Washington State Conservation Commission, 2000), Baxter Creek is used by coho and winter steelhead (wild, federally listed stocks). According to the Baxter Creek Fish Habitat Assessment (David Evans and Associates, 2001), there is about 5 miles of quality spawning and rearing habitat upstream of the culvert in the mainstem of Baxter Creek and its tributaries. According to the habitat survey, coho and other salmonid fingerlings were observed downstream of the culvert in much greater numbers than upstream. No coho were identified upstream of the culvert. This suggests that the culvert may be a complete barrier to adult and juvenile coho. Removal of this blockage would be a big step towards salmon and steelhead recovery for this watershed and the broader Lower Cowlitz River Subbasin of WRIA 26.