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Denny Creek Watershed Project
DCNA
has spent years improving the habitat of Denny Creek as it flows
through Big Finn Hill and Denny Parks. Last year, we completed a fish
ladder, making the entire 1.3 miles of creek in these two parks
accessible to salmon. These steps were taken to restore salmon to Denny
Creek, and now salmon fry are in the creek, either from incubated Coho
salmon eggs or from other active salmon runs.
Despite these successes, critical work remains to be done on the
watershed to improve the amount and quality of water in the creek and
its flow characteristics, particularly after the heavy rains of severe
winter storms. Over time, the watershed has deteriorated because of
roads and housing development. Mitigating some of the problems
associated with development will make the creek healthier and increase
the probability of permanent salmon restoration.
Denny Creek Watershed Protection and
Enhancement Project
George Ploudre, Jim Sproull, Clayton Rich, Kurt Seiffert, and Louis
Berner are starting the Denny Creek Watershed Protection and
Enhancement Project. This long-term project aims at better
understanding the biological and physical impacts from past, current,
and proposed developments within the creek’s watershed; protecting and
improving habitat and the quantity and quality of the water in the
creek; and mitigating the excessive water run off from winter storms,
which is a result of partially compromised wetlands and replacement of
undeveloped land with impervious surfaces.
The first stage of this project, which is just getting underway, is to
make a detailed survey and assessment of the creek, its tributaries,
wetlands (including those that have been compromised or diverted),
culverts, diversions, and piped input from storm runoff. We will map
the creek and its tributaries to their sources; monitor water quality
by field and automated observations of chemical and physical
characteristics; and analyze the biota of the creek, tributaries, and
wetlands. An index of biological integrity will be derived
from
stream sampling of macro-invertebrates.
We plan to do most of this survey work ourselves and hope to recruit
lots of DCNA volunteers. We are acquiring monitoring and recording
equipment for our use. We will hire consultants for certain areas of
expertise and for laboratory analyses. Jane Hague, with her usual
perceptiveness, obtained $15,000 to get us started and has just added
another $20,000 for 2004. We also have funds from the National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation, which bring our total funding to $45,000.
The survey will provide baseline information against which to measure
the creek’s status over time. It will also help us identify the most
feasible steps to restore resources and to minimize the impacts of
future development on the creek.
We plan to work in close cooperation with the community, the county,
local city government, the Environment and Adventure School School, and
local conservation organizations, to promote conservation objectives
and good environmental practices. Although the current state of
development in the watershed will severely limit our options, we are
confident that measures can be identified--both in the creek as it
exists now, and as additional development occurs in the future--that
will improve water characteristics in the creek.
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