SRRC - Road Stewardship Program

Overview

The SRRC is engaged in a variety or activities and projects to reduce or eliminate the problems caused by public and private roads in the Salmon River watershed.

Our Road Stewardship Program focuses on both sediment source assessment and fish barrier removal.

The results of our work include the prioritization and implementation of road storm-proofing and decommissioning projects as well as the removal of several fish barriers throughout the watershed.

Sediment Source Assessment

Roads and road-related landslides contribute large quantities of sediment to the river system, especially during storm events. This sediment pollution can impair aquatic habitat and suffocate gestating fish eggs (redds).

The SRRC is committed to reducing and mitigating the delivery of sediment to streams and the river from both public and private roads.

National Forest Roads

National Forest road networks are considered by many to be the most damaging component of federal forest land management. Roads and road-related landslides generate the greatest amount of sediment pollution per acre of all types of watershed disturbances. They can alter hydrology, habitat connectivity, and the routing of wood debris and sediment. These combined effects have the potential to disturb aquatic environments critical to anadromous fish and other aquatic life. 

The necessity to evaluate and implement measures to reduce road-related impacts to watersheds is greater than ever in light of decreasing road maintenance funds allocated to the Forest Service by Congress.

The Klamath National Forest (KNF) has recognized the need to reduce mileage of National Forest system roads. To assist in this process, the SRRC completed the Salmon River Sediment Source Assessment in 2001.  This assessment identified and measured all sources of sediment that have potential to deliver to streams in the Salmon River watershed. The assessment has been used to update the KNF’s Forest Transportation Map, create an erosion hazard assessment for all roads in the watershed, and assist in planning for road-related restoration in the watershed. 

Using the information provided by our assessment, the Klamath National Forest has completed 55 miles of storm proofing and 47 miles of decommissioning in the Upper and Lower South Fork road systems. 

Private Roads

As part of an ongoing program, we sponsor community road stewardship workdays and workshops that encourage community members to care for the roads that they use.  We completed a sediment source inventory of all roads in the watershed in 2001.  This inventory has been used to prioritize sediment reduction efforts. 

We are currently working with private landowners to assess and engineer improvements to their roads. The SRRC is funded to help engineer redesign projects that improve road stability and decrease erosion.

Fish Barrier Removal

Roads create barriers to fish migration when streams are routed through culverts or other crossings that are impassable by fish.

These can be complete, partial, or temporary barriers to anadromous fish on their upstream spawning migrations.  This effectively limits the amount of available habitat for spawning, increases demand on remaining spawning beds, and may also inflict injury or death upon fish attempting to pass through migration barriers.

The SRRC has helped to identify the known man-made fish barriers in the Salmon River watershed.  We are cooperating with Siskiyou County, US Forest Service, California Department of Fish and Game, NOAA Fisheries, Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Karuk Tribe to remove these barriers.  The Five Counties Salmonid Conservation Program recently inventoried and prioritized all known fish barriers in Northern California.

Current Barrier Removal Projects

The SRRC is currently involved in a number of projects to remove barriers to fish passage in the watershed.  Two small dams and a culvert that block fish migration on Whites Gulch (a North Fork tributary) will be removed in late summer 2008, opening up an additional mile and a half of fish habitat. We are conducting a feasibility study of the barrier culvert on Hotelling Gulch (a South Fork tributary) to determine the best course of action. This may result in the replacement of the culvert with a new bridge, allowing the stream to flow in its natural channel. Fish screens are also being installed on key water diversions. 

Recently Removed Barriers

As part of a cooperative effort, the Merrill Creek culvert on the Salmon River Road was replaced with a bridge in 2002, opening over one mile of blocked Spring & Fall Chinook habitat in the lower watershed. The SRRC and the Karuk Department of Natural Resources have documented steelhead spawning above the new bridge.

In 2006, Siskiyou County replaced the Kelly Gulch culvert on the Sawyers Bar Road with a bridge.

Program Coordinator

Jim Villeponteaux,

Salmon River Restoration Council
PO Box 1089
25631 Sawyers Bar Road (shipping only)
Sawyers Bar, CA 96027

phone: 530-462-4665 or 800-840-4665
fax: 530-462-4664