John Arum Dedication

We took a break from the flood recovery and project implementation on Friday to honor our friend John Arum.  It was a great opportunity to reflect on the work that has been completed in the last decade on Manastash Creek.  We were so pleased that John's family joined us, including his wife, mother, father, stepmother, sister, brother and sister-in-law, as well as many of his friends.  We had the opportunity to share with them the details of the project and it's importance to everyone involved. 

The Dedication Event began at the Washington Cattlemen's office in Ellensburg.  This was not just a convenient location, but the location of the very first meeting between the parties involved in the project.  Many members of the Steering Committee (past and present) shared their memories of John and how he worked with everyone involved.  John came into the Manastash prepared to pursue litigation on behalf of the Washington Environmental Council, but at the same time asking for collaboration.   Over the years, John became so familiar with the watershed and the issues and built such a level of trust, one of the irrigators stated that if he couldn't be at a meeting, John could speak for him.  Another Steering Committee member said that after working for so long on the project, it became difficult to tell who's side John was on, the fish or the irrigators.  Yet another Steering Committee member said, "whoever taught John to fight, did it well and whoever taught him to be a peacemaker did it equally well." 

After a light lunch, we took the more than 30 attendees out to the MWDA site so that they could see the on-the-ground impacts of all of the meetings and discussions over the last 10 years.

Three of these plaques were installed, one at each of the fish screen sites.  The plaques were provided by the Manastash Creek Irrigators, Ecology, BPA, HDR Engineering, the KCCD, and the American Water Resources Association.

Dale Bambrick (third from left), National Marine Fisheries Services, explains the MWDA fish screen facility to John's family.

   

HDR's Mike Garello (right), explains the MWDA facility as (right to left) Jeff Tayer (WDFW), Dale Bamrick (NMFS) and Bob Arum (John's father), listen.

The group watches as the screen's air burst cleaning system is triggered.

KCCD's Sherry Swanson talks with irrigator Dave Duncan and BPA grant manager Jay Marcotte at the MWDA site.

Larry Bland (Keach-Jensen irrigator) and Sherry

  

HDR's Mike Garello discusses the Keach-Jensen diversion with John's friends.

Left, Jeff Tayer (WDFW) talks about the Manastash Project with Brian Gruber (center).  Brian is an attorney who worked closely with John.

HDR's Gus Garcia (right) talks with Susan (center) and Liz (left), John's wife and sister, about the Keach-Jensen facility.

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Floods

Since the last post, we've experienced two flood events.  The first was March 31 through April 2nd.  That event was minor compared the second event, which is still ongoing today.  Over the weekend the area had more than 2 inches of rain and some serious snow melt.  The impacts won't be fully known until the waters recede which may not occur until at least later this week. Some rough estimates place this event in the 100 year category, particularly in the Taneum and Manastash watersheds.Here are a few pictures from our project sites.

Manastash Creek at Cove Road- looking upstream.

Barnes Road diversion facility.

Keach-Jensen diversion facility.

Keach -Jensen diversion facility.  Standing behind the building looking toward the head gates and then upstream in the creek.  Hopefully damage is limited to some erosion and deposition and the automation equipment and air burst system are okay.

MWDA/Consolidated Diversion.  Facility was shut down, but water overtopped and filled the forebay.  Note the water running over the back wall into the structure.  Again, hopefully the damage is limited to erosion and will require some clean-up but not major repairs.



Floodwaters on the south side of the 2000 block of Hanson Road.



Cherry Creek at Moe Road.  This is near the peak, although the water did come up a bit higher.  At the lower diversion site, the water actually overtopped the left bank.

Floodwaters near Wilson Creek at Thrall Road.  The creek channel proper is out of the photo to the right.

Teanaway River at Red Bridge Road.

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The Month of March

The month of March has very nearly come and gone.  Since the last blog was in February, this will be a long one.  There are a lots of pictures, as they tell the story best.
Construction on the Manastash Creek and Cherry Creek projects continue to dominate our staff activities.  At Cherry Creek, the instream weirs were completed in early March. The new head gate and fish screen and the upgraded pump vault have been set.  Some of the riparian plantings have been completed as well. At the upper site, the new pump vault has been set.  The cast in place structure for the fish screen was formed and poured.  The pipeline connecting the upper site and the lower site has also been installed.  We are closing in on the end of the project.

Looking upstream through the lower diversion structure, after dewatering but before construction of the weirs.

Similar viewpoint after removal of the old structure and construction of the 11 weirs.  This is looking upstream at weir number 5.

 

The Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) crew has begun the replanting effort along the lower reach.  Willow and cottonwood cuttings are the first to be installed.  Additional trees and shrubs will be planted next week.

A WCC crew from the North Yakima Conservation District worked to chip a portion of the limbs that were cleared from the site for construction.  The chips will be used as mulch on the planting areas.

 

The pump vault was installed at the upper site.

This is beginning of the cast in place fish screen structure at the upper site.

Pouring the slab for the fish screen structure.

Installing the pipeline that will lead from the headgate on the creek to the fish screen structure.

Forming the walls for the fish screen structure.

 There have been several activities on Manastash Creek.  At the Keach-Jensen site, the automated systems were installed and some water was run through the new facility.  The contractor and the engineer are working the bugs out of the system so that a full start-up can happen in early April.  At the MWDA Diversion, a debris boom has been installed to keep large debris away from the headgates.  The last couple of days, Sherry and Brent have been reinstalling and servicing the equipment at the flow monitoring sites on Manastash Creek.

BPA grant manager Jay Marcotte was in town last week and was able to visit Keach-Jensen.  The site is nearly finished except for some clean-up and the testing, start-up and training.

The control panels and the air tanks in the equipment building at Keach-Jensen.

This is the debris boom now installed at the MWDA/Consolidated Diversion.  It should keep any larger debris in the main channel of the creek.

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Busy Week Underway. . . .

It's busy as usual around our office.  We have two special Board meetings planned this week. The first is Thursday morning at 9AM. The Board and staff will be reviewing the 2010 financial report and Schedule 22. Schedule 22 is the new Annual Questionnaire for Audit Assessment created by the Conservation Commission and the State Auditor's office.  The second meeting is Friday at 2 PM to review the status of the Cherry Creek project.  The project is moving forward, but has encountered some challenges in the last few weeks.

This week, we are also beginning to wrap up our election season. We've just issued our notice of automatic re-election of Ron Gibb pursuant to WAC 135-110-370. Ron was the incumbent and the only applicant who filed bythe deadline for the position. So, no poll site, absentee balloting, or mail balloting will be performed on March 17, 2011. Notice of the Automatic Re-election will be posted atthe polling sites (Cle Elum Senior Center, County Courthouse, and the KCCD office) and published in the Daily Record and Upper Kittitas County Tribune. March will bring the end of election season, as any applications for appointed position on our Board are due to the Washington Conservation Commission. Applications are available on our website and are due to the Commission by March 31, 2011. For further information, please contact the KCCD at 509-925-8585, ext. 4.

Construction continues both at Cherry Creek and at Keach-Jensen on Manastash Creek.  This week should bring some more testing and start up work at Keach-Jensen and a big push to complete the rock weirs at the lower Cherry Creek diversion site.  Alsok, last week some follow-up work at the MWDA/Consolidated Diversion occurred.  There have been some issues with controls and the low pressure blower over the winter season and a team of technicians and project staff worked on addressing those issues.  While that was happening, WDFW maintenance staff took advantage of the site dewatering to sluice out the built up silt.

Nearly 1,000 feet of 24" pipeline are part the project at Cherry Creek.  As of the end of last week, approximately two thirds of it was completed.

Two concrete manholes are part of the new piping system.  They were set yesterday, and the pipeline connecting them (that goes under Cherry Creek) was installed.

This photo is a great shot of the rock weirs at Keach-Jensen after a bit of snow late last week.

The project engineer, contractor and service technicians for the controls watch as the forebay is filled for the first time.  The fish screen is the inclined panel on the left side of the forebay.

While the MWDA site was dewatered for the work on the low pressure blower, WDFW maintenance staff sluiced out the silt that had built up last year.

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Cherry Creek Project

Work on the Cherry Creek project continues. Last week, the lower section of the creek was dewatered. The associated fish rescue was a long process.  Over 1,800 individual fish were removed and then released below the work site.  In addition to our regular help with fish rescues, the local Washington Conservation Corps crew assisted. 

This week, the contractor is beginning work on the rock weirs and streambed restoration in this 800' reach of Cherry Creek.

The fish rescue began at the lower diversion.  Jennifer Scott with WDFW was operating the electrofisher and the WCC crew (all the yellow hardhats) were netting the fish and placing them in buckets to be identified and counted.

This photo was taken while standing mid stream, looking up toward the concrete diversion structure.  This gives a good impression of the size of the structure and the depth of the creek.

Standing at the diversion and looking downstream.  The fish rescue involved 800' linear feet of stream, which is one of the largest areas we've dewatered for a project.

 

A juvenile rainbow trout captured during the fish rescue.  More than 130 rainbow trout were captured in all.

This is a juvenile coho salmon.  Only two were captured in this stream reach.

This is a brook lamprey.  They are common and especially plentiful in the silty locations.  Over 280 of varying size were captured and released.

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Keach-Jensen

The Keach-Jensen diversion structure and fish screen is nearing the start-up and testing phase.  The WDFW crew from the Yakima Construction Shop has completed most of their work and installed the fish screens, hand rails and grating.  The plumbing and electrical contractors have been working on the air system and the controls.  Some of the testing should begin in about a week.

Plumbing subcontractor has been working on the air burst system delivery lines.

The WDFW Yakima Screen Shop crew installing the handrails.  They also installed the fish screen panels and the louvered trash racks at the headgate.

 

The electrical subcontractors are working on the control system.  This is the main control panel, where the diversion rate is set and the gates are controlled.

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Annual Meeting 2011

Our 2011 Annual Meeting was last Thursday evening.  We had a great turnout and a nice dinner at the Palace Cafe.  As usual there were presentations about our projects and programs and the evening was capped with several awards.  We always like to honor our volunteers.  In 2010, eleven individuals and two groups (WSU Master Gardeners and RSVP) helped with our plant sale and the annual election.  Without their assistance, we'd be lost!
We presented four Conservation Awards for dedication to projects that we've worked on.  The participation and hard work of the landowners and project partners that we recognized last night is what make our projects successful.
Finally, service pins are awarded by our state association.  This year three Board members were presented 5 and 20 year pins for their service on the Board of Supervisors.



Visiting before the meeting started and during the KCCD 2011 Slideshow.

Award Winners!  Left to Right: Volunteers Crystal Kossow and Ken Titus; and Conservation Award Winners Martin Bernal (Hillcrest Farms), Lisa Pelly (Trout Unlimited Washington Water Project, Larry Fugle (Wagon Wheel community), and Jennifer Scott (Dept of Fish & Wildlife).

Board members receiving service pins: Jeff Brunson (5 year pin), Mark Moore (20 year pin) and Ron Gibb (5 year pin).

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Effects of January Flood Event

Our projects survived the flood event over the last week in relatively good shape.   There was some damage but nothing catastrophic. This flood event was definitely less severe that the 2009 event.  Here are a few pictures of project sites in the County.


The fish screen installed in Dry Creek in November had some erosion of the backfill around it, but no damage to the actual structure.  



The Teanaway was very high as well.  This the downstream side of the Red Bridge Road bridge.  The pump station on the opposite bank is involved in a potential project this year.  Any additional downcutting at this site may not be visible until the flows recede.

This is the Ellensburg Water Company diversion on Currier Creek, which was a project from 2008.  The flows were high, but there appears to be no damage to the structure.

We were lucky at our two active construction sites.  The contractors were not working in either stream at the time the event.  At Cherry Creek, the flows were substantial as this site is below the confluence of Cooke Creek, Caribou Cree, Parke Creek and Johnson Drain.  Just a few days before the event, Cherry Creek was returned to the channel and the bypass channel was filled.  

This is looking upstream toward the Moe Road bridge on Friday January 14th.

This is the same basic angle on Cherry Creek on Sunday afternoon when the creek was continuing to rise.  There was some erosion along the banks but it was relatively minor.

 At Keach-Jensen on Manastash Creek, the contractor has been out of the creek for some time, but the bypass channel was still active up until last week.  That was due in part to the freezing temperatures and the fact that the creek and the bypass channel had ice in them.

This is the first real event for the new structure.  The water level was pretty high and there was quite a bit of ice in the creek during the first couple of days of the event.  This photo was taken on Tuesday.

 

This is looking upstream across the rock weirs that were built earlier in the fall.  This photo was taken just yesterday when the flows were still relatively high.

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