Coppei Creek Assessment & Design

This grant was used by The Walla Walla County Conservation District to develop a restoration plan for 1.3 miles of Coppei Creek between Waitsburg and Walla Walla. Their objectives were to enhance instream habitat, reduce streambank erosion, improve water quality and restore proper functioning condition to the channel. The project area began at McCown Road where banks are incised about 4-ft and extended downstream 1.3 miles where banks are incised 15-ft. Functioning CREP buffers have been established on 1.2 miles. The project will be done in two phases: project assessment and design (phase 1) and project construction (phase 2). This application was for phase 1 only. Specific activities were 1) Assess stream conditions and development of an assessment report, 2) Develop a plan view map and conceptual designs of priority salmon restoration activities within the study reach (the plan view map was accompanied by a narrative detailing the issues within the project reach, a description of proposed projects and further assessment work to repair and mediate identified issues, and justification for why each proposed activity was a priority), and 3) Develop a preliminary design, cost estimate, and design report for at least one identified priority project. A stakeholder work group meeting was held to allow stakeholders to participate in prioritization of proposed restoration activities and selection of the project to move forward to preliminary design.

The project was on Coppei Creek, WRIA32, MSA-Middle Touchet River. Coppei is important because it supports all life stages of listed Columbia Steelhead. However, as the creek flows north to its confluence with the Touchet, instream habitat degrades due to sediment loading from unstable eroding banks. Sediment has been cited as the primary adverse effect on most life stages of salmonids at high to extreme levels within this area by the Walla Walla Subbasin Plan assessment and others (Kuttel 2001).

The goal of the project is to increase/improve information to help select projects that have a high certainty and benefit. The objective of the project is to determine project siting, feasibility, design, or implementation.