McMullen Creek Coho Stream Enhancement Project - Large Wood Implementation

This project will improve the complexity, quality, and frequency of pools, provide flow refugia for salmonids, and sort spawning gravels in McMullen Creek by installing properly sized Large Wood (LW) features throughout a 4,900 foot (0.93 mile) stream reach. The project will result in 50 features, comprised of 156 (95 key) pieces of properly sized LW. This will bring the key piece count in the project reach from a Poor rating up to a Good rating for quantity of wood within the stream, as outlined in the NOAA Fisheries Final Recovery Plan for Central California Coast Coho Salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit (NMFS 2012), Appendix B, 2012.

This project will directly benefit coho salmon and steelhead trout by enhancing habitat that will result in increased pool depths, frequency of pools, and complex cover. Large wood densities, as well as the increased quantity and quality of instream habitat that it creates, has been shown to correlate with positive survival and abundance of salmonids. Large wood features will sort and capture spawning gravels, increase channel roughness elements, and promote floodplain connectivity.