December 15, 2001

This past summer, heavy equipment moved into the headwall area of the Mill Creek watershed, an important tributary known for its cold water and good salmon habitat. But, don’t be alarmed, the equipment was used to “decommission” a half-mile stretch of a abandoned and failed haul road on Bureau of Land Management property. The project goal was to allow natural drainage patterns to return and restore the area to minimize future sediment inputs into Mill Creek. By completing this project, the area has been “stormproofed,” in that MRC has removed any culverts that could blow out, or roads to slide. Five culverts were removed and “dished out,” freeing up the flow of water to its original course. Perched fill dirt from the original road construction was pulled back from the outside edge of the roadbed and deposited against the cutbank, in most cases completely recontouring the slope to its original angle. It was a feat of poetry in heavy equipment motion. To help neighborhood residents, various road improvements were performed such as outsloping certain areas and creating rolling dips in others to facilitate better drainage patterns on the existing road. The project was funded by BLM and the California Dept. of Fish and Game. Next year, the MRC will be doing more extensive work of this type in the Mill Creek area. For more information on either of these projects, call Ali Freedlund at the MRC office.


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Table of Contents for Mattole Restoration Newsletter, Issue 17 - Winter/Spring 2002