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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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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Winter Construction Continues. . .

At Cherry Creek, the instream work at the upper site is wrapping up.  The WCC crew has been working on the coir fabric and planting (cuttings for now) along the bank.  The contractor is completing restoration of area used for the bypass channel.  At the lower site, they've begun trimming trees to allow access into the stream.  As the trees were trimmed, a lot of debris was found in the banks consisting mostly of broken concrete pipe and concrete ditch.  The contractor will begin excavation of the bypass channel at this lower site today.  This should take a few days and work on the weirs won't begin until at least late next week.

Reecer Creek Excavating continues to clean-up at the upper site on Cherry Creek and move equipment and materials to the lower site.

The WCC crew laid out the coir fabric for erosion control and installed lots of cuttings to help to stabilize and protect the streambank.  The contractor installed the rootwads and rock in the lower corner of the picture.

Trimming the trees at the lower site on Cherry Creek changed the look of the creek.  That's the diversion dam in the upper corner of the picture.

At Keach-Jensen, the work is focused on completing the building.  Much of the remaining work will be completed by the electrical and plumbing subs. Manastash Creek was at least partially returned to the channel last week.  With the forecast now calling for the possibility of small stream flooding, the project is in a good position to deal with higher flows.

The equipment building is nearly complete.  Belsaas & Smith will be adding trusses and roofing shortly.

Manastash Creek flowing in front of the head gates and down the rock weirs.  This view in the snow shows the design that brings the low flow to the head gate and then out away and into the channel. 

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Water back in the Creeks

It's always a big step in a project to return creek flow to the channel where work has been completed.  By the end of this week, two of our projects returned water their respective channels, although the projects are at different stages of overall completion.
At the Keach-Jensen project on Manastash Creek, the weirs that were constructed weeks ago finally had water running through them.  At the same time, the contractor is constructing the equipment building and the plumbing and electrical subcontractors are beginning their work on the facility.

Manastash Creek water flowing down the weirs next the fish screen facility for the first time.

The equipment building is underway at Keach Jensen.

 At Cherry Creek, the upper set of weirs is now constructed. The weirs were started just last week.  The water was switched today from the bypass channel back to the creek.  Next week will see the beginning of work at the lower diversion.

The contractor removing the bulk bag dam from Cherry Creek.

Cherry Creek water flowing across the new weirs.

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Cherry Creek

The Cherry Creek project is moving forward.  The contractor has diverted the creek around the upstream work area and begun constructing the first four rock weirs.  In the process of dewatering the work site, a fish rescue was conducted by WDFW.  See the photos below.

The contractor constructed a bulk bag dam to divert the creek into the bypass channel.

The bypass channel is lined and several hundred feet long.

The fish rescue crew working in the cold and snow.

A few of the 85 rainbow trout removed during the first session.  They ranged in size from 70 mm to 370 mm (2.75 to 14.5 inches).

Beginning to construct the first of the four rock weirs.

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December Work

I'm a bit behind on blog posts!  December has a busy month so far.  Most of the concrete work is now done on the Keach-Jensen project.  The next big push in the schedule is back filling around the structure and preparation for the block building.

Work on the backside of the structure, including the walls for the Keach and Jensen ditch outlets

Forming the walls for the ditch outlets.

Weather became an issue and the site needed to be protected from snow and then heated for the pour.

The final big pour occurred last week.and the structure itself is substantially complete.

After some delays, the Cherry Creek Project is finally underway.  The project includes fish screens and irrigation delivery improvements for three water right holders and the correction of two passage barriers.  Those barriers currently block access to 2 miles of stream.  The project is located west of Moe Road on Cherry Creek.

A substantial road into the lower part of the project site was constructed.  The road allows the streambed rock and weir rock to be hauled in and stockpiled.

This is the lower diversion structure that will be removed and replaced with a series of 8 rock weirs.

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Keach-Jensen Construction and Site Tours

Construction of the rock weirs continues at Keach-Jensen.  The three lowermost weirs have been completed.  Another two weeks are needed for the remaining weirs.

HDR engineer Mike Garello works with Belsaas & Smith operators to construct the third of nine weirs on Manastash Creek below the Keach-Jensen Diversion.

Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife conducted a tour of project sites as part of Fish Screen & Passage Workshop.  The MWDA/Consolidated and Barnes Road diversion sites were both included in the tour, along with projects on Caribou, Cooke, Coleman, Wilson and Taneum Creeks.

WDFW tour participants watch as the air burst cleaning system is triggered at the MWDA/Consolidated Diversion on Manastash Creek.



Anna describes the Barnes Road diversion to the tour participants.



Larry Browne with Ellensburg Water Company describes the function of his diversion on Cooke Creek.  This structure was the first construction project under YTAHP in 2003.

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Cherry Creek

The Cherry Creek Irrigation Diversion Modification Project pre-bid meeting was conducted yesterday.  There was a good turnout of local and regional contractors.  As part of the meeting, we visited the site.

KCCD's Mark Crowley (center) talks with the attending contractors about the project.

This is one of the two irrigation diversions addressed by this project.  It is part of the Moe Road bridge structure.  The fish passage barrier aspect of the project is apparent.

The second diversion serves two landowners, one of whom operates this pump station.  RH2 engineer Paul Cross (center pointing) explains the work at this site.

This project will result in fish screens for approximately 14 cubic feet per second and it will correct two fish passage barriers that currently block access into 2 miles of stream habitat.  There have been documented juvenile Chinook and likely juvenile steelhead rearing below the lower diversion in the off season, so we expect that these juveniles will rear in the this additional reach after the project is completed.

Bids are due September 1 and we hope to start work in mid to late October.

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Gearing up for Construction Season

KCCD staff is preparing for a busy construction season that should start in the late summer and go through winter.  Another fish screen facility will be constructed in the Manastash. That contract is held by the engineering firm, HDR and funded directly by the Bonneville Power Administration. The contractor will be Belsaas & Smith.  We are expecting to provide the day to day construction observation for the project.
A large project on Cherry Creek should go out to bid in August. We've worked on this project for several years and its coming down to the wire with our funding sources.  The project will provide fish screens for three water right holders and remove barriers to fish passage opening up 2 miles of additional stream habitat.

Keach Jensen Diversion in the Manastash

One of the two Cherry Creek diversions to be addressed this year

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South Central RC&D Meeting a Success

The South Central Washington Resource Conservation & Development Council (RC&D) public meeting was held last night at the Ellensburg City Hall.   Louis Musso, RC&D Chair, opened the meeting and he was followed by Fennelle Miller.  Fennelle is a member of the RC&D representing the City of Ellensburg.  She did a great job of describing the RC&D and how valuable it is to forming partnerships to work on natural resource issues.

Several presentations were given on RC&D related projects.  KCCD staff (Anna) presented a number of Yakima Tributary Access & Habitat Program (YTAHP) projects completed in the last few years.  The RC&D administers the base funding from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) for YTAHP, allowing the KCCD and others to focus time on the projects, not on the grant administration with BPA.  Since it's inception in 2002, KCCD has received approximately $2.3million in YTAHP funding through the RC&D and used that to leverage another $5.5 million from other funding sources!

Carol Ready (RC&D staff) presented the Reecer Creek Floodplain project. The Mid-Columbia Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group is managing this project.  For mor information, visit their website at http://midcolumbiarfeg.com.

 David Gerth (Kittitas Conservation Trust) presented his Cle Elum River project that reactivated an old side channel. Visit his website at http://kittitasconservationtrust.org/

George Sheldon presented the Tapash Collaborative Project, which is focused on healthy forests in central Washington. For more information visit the Tapash website at http://www.tapash.org/.

Heather Simmons-Rigdon closed the meeting with a presentation about the RC&D's area plan.  The plan can be viewed on the RC&D website and public comment is welcome!  http://www.scwrcd.org.

Carol Ready presents the Reecer Creek Floodplain project at the RC&D public meeting.

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Coleman Creek Project

The Coleman Creek project is nearly complete. The project included removing the existing concrete diversion dam and pump vault and replacing them with rock weirs for fish passage, a headgate above the upper weir, a fish screen, and a new pump vault. Work began the last week of October and is expected to be completed by early December.

This is the diversion structure during the '09 irrigation season. It was a barrier to fish passage and was unscreened.

The reach of the creek where the work occurred was dewatered and then a fish salvage occurred. Above are Ryan and Sara from the District and Jen Scott from WDFW with an electrofisher. They work for quite a while to remove all the fish under the existing diversion dam.

The first order of business was to remove the old diversion dam.

The rock weirs were constructed, beginning with the apex rock.

Below each rock weir, a scour pool was excavated.

The new pump vault was set in two pieces by a large crane.

The water was released back into the creek.

The remaining work includes finishing the gates, the fish screen installation and all the automation for the water measuring.

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