The objective is to improve fish passage for spring/summer chinook, summer steelhead, and bull trout habitat.  

(1)     The culvert does not currently meet ODFW criteria.  During high flows, the culvert is a potential velocity barrier to migrating salmonids.  Therefore, the culvert is currently a partial fish barrier.  By replacing the culvert, there would be full fish passage to 5 miles of chinook, 7 miles of steelhead and 9 miles of bull trout habitat.

(2)    The culvert replacement would encourage increased floodplain inundation, through removal of the culvert that causes stream constriction.  

(3)    The project complements the restoration work that has improved habitat on nearly 7 upstream miles.  In addition, three other fish passage barriers have been removed or replaced to provide full fish passage to upstream fish habitat.    

Culvert replacement will occur on the 5125 road.  This will allow for improved passage to 11.5 miles (combined) of improved fish passage for chinook, steelhead and bull trout.  The culvert replacement will consist of structures that will meet ODFW criteria, pass 100 year events and have a native streambed within the structure.  The culvert removal will result in a stream channel with gradients and channel dimensions similar to those up and downstream of the culvert.  

The culvert will be replaced with a 26 foot clear span bridge in nearly the same location. This new structure will be sized to pass the ordinary high water without constriction and provide five feet of freeboard over the 100 year flood. Approximately 150 feet of new stream channel will be built at the site. To do this a stream bypass and dewatering system will be installed to control the water during construction.

To maintain access beyond the site a bypass road will be built around the culvert replacement and maintained for public traffic. The bypass road will include a temporary culvert through Limber Jim Creek which will be removed after construction. Other associated roadwork includes replacing the surface aggregate, rebuilding NFSR 5125 to the new road profile, and rehabilitating the bypass road.
All instream work will be done during the instream window: July 1st through July 31st.

Seeding
  
All areas disturbed by equipment will be seeded with a native grass/forb seed mix after project completion.  Mulching would occur, where necessary, for erosion control.