Wildlife Habitat

Upper Green Valley Creek Fish Passage Improvement Project

In the summer of 2017, Gold Ridge RCD and partners made major fish passage and hydraulic improvements in the upper reach of Green Valley Creek. A damaged and undersized stream crossing culvert on the Green Valley Farm + Mill and Chenoweth properties was upgraded. Previously an impassable barrier to migrating coho salmon, the corroded culvert was perched 11.5 feet above its downstream pool, and prevented fish access to nearly one mile of spawning and rearing habitat upstream. The potential failure of the stream crossing also presented a threat to water quality, stream bank stability, and flood plain connectivity.

The reconstructed stream crossing now features a bottomless arch culvert and roughened channel specifically designed to pass the 100-year return storm flow, and allow fish unimpeded ingress and egress through the culvert. A series of boulder weirs both upstream and downstream of the stream crossing work in tandem with the constructed step-pool roughened channel to improve fish passage and stabilize the channel grade through the 600-foot project reach, and retain essential floodplain connectivity upstream.