Steptoe Creek Perched Culvert Design & Assessment

Palouse Conservation District (PCD), partnering with Whitman County Public Works, has developed final designs and a design report to construct a bridge to replace a perched culvert on Steptoe Creek. The design, when implemented, will replace a man-made fish barrier to restore a minimum of 2 miles of upstream habitat near Clarkston, WA. In response to requests from local and state reviewers, PCD also coordinated with WA Dept of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to conduct an instream habitat and barrier assessment upstream of the culvert using WDFW protocols.

The barrier culvert is a 72 long perched culvert that goes under Steptoe Creek Rd at a 45 degree angle roughly a half mile from the mouth of Steptoe Creek. Addressing this barrier will allow steelhead access to over 2 miles of upstream habitat. This, in turn, will make the upstream reaches eligible for the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). The PCD has worked with the ranchers to enroll the riparian areas, both above and below this barrier, into the CREP program, which is only applicable to fish-bearing streams. Once enrolled into CREP, extensive riparian plantings will occur and livestock exclusion fencing will be installed, as needed.

In 2002, WDFW urged Whitman County to correct this obstruction to fish passage, but they could not due to budgeting issues. In 2006, the NRCS rapid water assessment report also pinpointed this culvert as a big issue. With the landowners in this drainage wanting to implement the CREP program and open up these streams to fish, the PCD decided to move forward with this design project and are looking forward to implementation. This drainage basin is in a minor spawning area identified in the Salmon Recovery Plan for South East Washington (2011).

Restore fish passage to 2.1 miles of Steptoe Creek. An additional 3.2 miles of habitat in Stuart Creek.will be available once another barrier is addressed.