Forest Road 80 x-ing of Piscoe Creek

Piscoe Creek a 4th order tributary of the Klickitat River crosses Forest Road 80 approximately 0.34 miles upstream of its confluence with the Klickitat River. The project area is located on the Yakama Indian Reservation. The crossing has been a chronic road maintenance problem because of frequent road washouts due to failed or blocked culverts during high flows. The original road design and maintenance required to re-open and maintain the crossing has often left conditions for upstream fish passage impaired to most age classes. The upper Klickitat and Piscoe Creek provide spawning and rearing habitat for mid-Columbia ESA-threatened steelhead and resident rainbow trout. The two barrier culverts were removed and replaced with a full spanning concrete bridge reconnecting upstream habitat and providing unimpeded fish passage to the newly opened habitat. The reestablishement of habitat connectivity will open over 5.5 miles to spawning and rearing. Rearing habitat is a limiting factor for O. mykiss production in the Klickitat watershed. Additional high quality perennial habitat will be a step towards addressing this. The habitat upstream of the crossing is generally in good condition. TFW habitat surveys conducted in the late 90’s and early 00’s indicate riffle/pool sequences, several (5-7) log jams per mile (jams = 10+ pieces), average wetted width of 13.4’, average bankfull width of 15.8’, embedment is low, and percentage canopy cover averages 60%.

The project objective was to remove a fish passage barrier on Piscoe Creek and provide unimpeded passage at the crossing for salmonids in Piscoe Creek. This will result in more habitat for spawning and rearing increasing fish populations in Piscoe Creek.