Client: Santa Cruz County Community Action Board

Waterways staff was retained to develop a fish passage improvement design for a concrete culvert that was hindering fish passage on Valencia Creek, in Santa Cruz County. Plans were developed to construct a concrete fish ladder structure, per design criteria established by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG).

Client: Town of Truckee

The Town of Truckee has partnered with the Truckee River Watershed Council and Truckee Development Corporation in a multi-objective redevelopment project that seeks to revitalize the downtown and the adjacent rail yard, reduce flood risks for businesses and residents, and improve the natural environment. The focus of this project is restoration of Trout Creek and development of open space that connects residents and visitors of the Truckee area to important natural resources. Waterways is leading a team of consultants tasked with enhancing habitat values and functions of Trout Creek.

Client: USFS- Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit

Waterways, in coordination with the USFS Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) and Swanson Hydrology, has developed designs to restore the mainstem and tributaries of Cold Creek in the High Meadow Complex (HMC) near South Lake Tahoe, California. The basic restoration objective is to increase soil moisture within approximately 70 acres of meadow area by modifying the morphology and hydrology of the streams in a manner consistent with natural geomorphic processes. Work involves re-constructing approximately 8,700 linear feet of channel and raising the elevation of the streambeds by 2 to 4 feet. The project will significantly increase the diversity and density of meadow wetland vegetation species and shift some areas from seasonally dry and sparse mesic meadows to wet meadow conditions.

The project’s three-year construction plan was completed in 2012, with Waterways providing on-site supervision.

Client: Wasco County Soil and Water Conservation District

Mill Creek is a moderately-sized tributary to the Columbia River that originates on the eastern slope of Mt. Hood and flows northeast through the City of The Dalles, Oregon. Urbanization along the lower two miles of Mills Creek in the City of The Dalles resulted in the simplification of the aquatic and riparian habitats. In 2011, The Dalles Watershed Council (DWC) commissioned an evaluation of the urbanized reach to assess land use impacts and identify opportunities for habitat restoration. Following the initial assessment, a preliminary engineering design was developed for the Honald/Buyers property. The preliminary design included excavation and connection of a historic side channel that had been partially filled, utilization of an existing side channel as a backwater alcove, installation of a precast spanning bridge across the reconnected side channel, and installation of large wood structures along the channels and floodplain to increase roughness and improve habitat conditions.

Client: Latimer Environmental

The Hillsboro Landfill is a construction-demolition waste landfill situated on 400 acres south of Hillsboro, Oregon between SE Minter Bridge Road and the Tualatin River. With the landfill operations located at the northeast end of the property, the south and west sides of the property contain wetland mitigation sites adjacent to the Tualatin River. Waterways was retained to design an outfall from the constructed wetlands located at the south end of the property that provides a geomorphically stable discharge into the Tualatin River. 

Client: Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County

Waterways contracted with the Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District (SCRCD) and the State Coastal Conservancy to provide design services for the improvement of fish passage at a stream crossing along Shingle Mill Gulch. The project site had a 6-foot diameter corrugated metal pipe culvert which provided conveyance beneath a private driveway servicing the Koinonia Conference grounds. Hydraulic analyses of the culvert determined that it was undersized for design flood flows and presented a fish passage impediment to migrating salmonids.

Client: Monument Soil and Water Conservation District

Cottonwood Creek is a major tributary to the North Fork John Day River and has been identified as critical habitat for Middle Columbia River steelhead. The lower four miles of the creek enters a broad valley, providing opportunities for agriculture that relies on the water of Cottonwood Creek for production. There are currently 12 diversion sites along lower Cottonwood Creek, referred to as points of diversion (POD’s). Many of these diversions result in fish passage barriers during the low flow season. The Monument Soil and Water Conservation district requested Waterways assistance in the assessment of channel stability and fish passage for all 12 PODs and designs for three of the known fish passage barriers.

Client: California State Parks- Diablo Vista District

The Mitchell Creek Riparian Restoration and Fish Passage Improvement Project provides for removal of four small dams and the decommissioning of defunct access roads along a reach of Mitchell Creek, within Mount Diablo State Park. The design includes approximately 400 feet of constructed roughened channel to provide fish passage through the grade transition created by the various impoundments. In addition to the fish passage improvements, the project removed approximately 2,500 cubic yards of impounded sediments from upstream of the site to restore floodplain function and reduce local bank erosion. The design included the installation of large wood elements obtained on site to provide bank stability and enhanced pool development.

Client: Tualatin River Watershed Council

Waterways staff prepared engineering designs and specifications to improve passage for steelhead and cutthroat trout on a headwater tributary to the Tualatin River in Washington County, OR. The site consisted of a seasonal flashboard dam. Downstream of the flashboard dam the channel had incised 3-feet creating a fish passage barrier under most flow conditions. The design consists of a series of five rock weirs to build the bed up downstream of the structure and provide fish passage under all flow conditions by creating a backwater condition at the dam. Waterways assisted the TRWC with the permitting and construction supervision. The project was constructed in Summer 2008.

Client: MCS, Corp.

Waterways recently prepared detailed engineering plans and specifications to construct a wetland mitigation site in the historic floodplain of Yakima River in Washington. The site was historically leveled and channelized for livestock grazing before being purchased by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM has been managing the property to reduce invasive weeds for several years in anticipation of this project, which was initiated as a mitigation site for a nearby gravel mining operation with direct impacts to a nearby wetland.

Client: US Forest Service

Waterways staff led an interdisciplinary team to assess existing conditions within the Blackwood Creek Watershed. Blackwood Creek is a major tributary to Lake Tahoe, drains a mix of steep volcanic and granitic terrain, has a high bedload transport rate, and was historically impacted by grazing, logging, and instream gravel mining. Key impacts identified during the study were excessive bank erosion and channel widening associated with channel incision and loss of floodplain connectivity and the presence of several fish passage barriers. To restore the physical processes that sustain channel morphology and biological function, an aggressive, long-term restoration strategy was proposed.

Client: The Nature Conservancy

Independence Lake holds one of only two known wild, self-sustaining populations of Lahontan cutthroat trout in the world - a species that has been lost from 99% of its historic range.  Waterways staff are proud to have assisted The Nature Conservancy in their efforts to protect and restore this critical habitat through the planning and design of a barrier to exclude non-native fish from the lake. 

Client: Oregon Parks and Recreation

Waterways Consulting recently completed a restoration plan for Jackson and Netarts Creeks for Oregon Parks and Recreation District at Cape Lookout State Park.  The focus of the effort was to evaluate the hydrology, geomorphology, and habitat conditions of Jackson Creek, the principle stream that flows through Cape Lookout.  Approximately 60 years ago, a portion of Jackson Creek was diverted to Netarts Bay to increase freshwater flows into Netarts Bay with the hope of improving the commercial oyster beds.  Impacts associated with the diversion and associated flow split were addressed in the restoration plan as well as opportunities for enhancement of the Jackson Creek mainstem downstream of the diversion site. 

Client: Scappoose Bay Watershed Council

Waterways was retained by the Scappoose Bay Watershed Council to develop bid-ready engineering drawings for six culverts on Salmon and Cox Creeks in the Scappoose Bay Watershed that were identified as high priority fish passage barriers during an assessment conducted in 2001.  The design approach consisted of replacing each culvert with a bottomless arch culvert using streambed simulation criteria established by NOAA Fisheries and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 

Client: South Coast Habitat Restoration

Waterways provided design and construction support services to South Coast Habitat Restoration to improve fish passage conditions and vehicular access at a private bridge that crosses Carpinteria Creek. The project site had a concrete-lined channel with drop structures that impeded the upstream migration of salmonids and an undersized bridge that could be overtopped during flood events. Site improvements included removing the concrete-lined channel, recontouring the banks, and revegetating the riparian area. The redesigned channel will provide hydraulic conditions conducive to fish passage. Waterways designed a 55’-span vehicular bridge to replace the undersized bridge. The new bridge can convey floods greater than the 100-year storm event. The construction phase of the project was funded by the Fisheries Restoration Grant Program through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Photo Credit: Pre-Construction (Left), Waterways Consulting, Inc. Post-Construction (Right), Moe Gomez of South Coast Habitat Restoration

Client: Necanicum River Watershed Council

Waterways was hired to develop an engineered solution to address a high priority fish passage site on the South Fork Necanicum.  The project site consists of a 6-foot high diversion dam and intake structure.  The objectives of the project were to provide unimpeded passage for all species and life histories of salmonids present in the South Fork, meet NMFS and NOAA Fisheries fish screening guidelines, and provide a reliable source of water to the City of Seaside according to their existing water right.  Specific project tasks include preparing a set of alternatives for review by a technical advisory team, preparation of preliminary engineering drawings for the selected alternative, preparation of a water management plan that identifies potential changes in the operation and management of the diversion as a result of the modifications, and preparation of the final engineering drawings. 

Client: Boy Scouts of America, Monterey Bay Area Council

The Boy Scouts of America own and operate an 800-acre property on the Little Sur River that is used as a summer camp. A flashboard dam was installed in the 1950s to create an impoundment for recreational and educational uses. The seasonal operation of this dam impeded juvenile and adult steelhead passage at the site

Client: Sonoma County Public Works

Waterways assisted the Sonoma County Department of Transportation and Public Works with planning and design services to address two fish passage barriers associated with stream crossings on County roads. The sites consisted of two large concrete box culverts that were limiting fish passage to high quality spawning and rearing habitat located upstream. At each of these culverts, the natural streambed had incised to at least 4 feet below the culvert outlet, resulting in a partial barrier to migrating salmonids. The design solution included structural retrofit of the culverts using concrete baffles, and the construction of a roughened channel to aggrade the stream profile sufficiently to eliminate the passage barrier. Work consisted of topographic mapping, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, and preparation of preliminary and final design drawings and specifications.

Client: Clean Water Services (CWS), Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL)

Waterways assisted CWS and DSL in the planning and design of a 20 acre mitigation bank in the Tualatin River Watershed to provide wetland, temperature, and salmon credits.  In addition to providing purchasable credits, the project simultaneously tested a function-based accounting system developed by the Willamette Partnership’s Counting on the Environment program (http://www.willamettepartnership.org). This program was developed with the help of public, private, and non-profit stakeholders to develop a shared accounting system for quantifying impacts and benefits to ecosystem services for application to ecosystem markets. The Partnership completed a test version for water temperature, wetlands, salmonid habitat, and upland prairie that was applied to pilot projects in the program. Half Mile Lane was one of the pilot projects that tested three of these services, and was the only pilot site thus far that resulted in real-world transactions. Therefore, this project tested not only the ecosystem credit calculator, but also the sequence of developing, selling and buying ecosystem credits.