Upper Beaver Creek Project – Fire Recovery

In 2022, Methow Salmon completed a multi-year effort to address fish passage at the Batie irrigation diversion. To ensure continued irrigation supply, the project included constructing a new diversion, fish screen, and headworks. To address fish passage the project removed barriers that limited up-stream passage beyond the diversion, including the realignment of a 1/2 mile-long stretch of Beaver Creek that had been previously confined to a riprap-lined roadside channel. The project improves the stream’s connection with its floodplain, restores bed and channel form, and approximately doubles the stream length.

Fire and Flood

In July 2014, the Carlton Complex wildfire burned through the newly completed project area. The fire burned much of the riparian area and destabilized hillslopes throughout the upper Beaver Creek drainage. In 2016, high spring flood events during the spring freshet scoured much of the bed material below the irrigation diversion, undermining fish passage. In 2017 Beaver Creek experienced extremely high early spring flows during a May rainfall event, which again scoured out the material below the diversion, further impacting fish passage. The 2017 flooding was described by long-term landowners as approaching or exceeding previous record floods. During this event, the creek avulsed into multiple abandoned channel alignments resulting in damage to portions of Upper Beaver Creek Road. In addition to the road damage, the flood and debris flows also overwhelmed multiple road culverts and caused extensive damage to the irrigation diversion. After the event, it was determined that a road culvert failure on Volstead Creek upstream of the project area had contributed to the magnitude of the high flow event.

Adaptive Design

While habitat projects are designed to be resilient and provide long-term benefits to fish and landowners, rivers are dynamic systems, and there are times when making modifications to original designs are required to maintain these gains. The frequency of recurring flood events following the 2014 wildfires has demonstrated the need to identify and obtain funding support for the maintenance of these new projects. While the level of adaptive design and repairs at Batie far exceeded the normal maintenance other projects have required, Methow Salmon is invested in ensuring that this project provides long-term benefits for listed fish, and protect public and private infrastructure. 2022 marked our 9th year working at this challenging site. In August 2022 completed construction on a new culvert under the highway to allow fish passage and expand riparian plantings.