Santa Ynez River Fisheries Studies

The majority of the enhancement activities focus on south side tributaries. These tributaries generally have water flowing in them year round and also have resident "seed" populations of steelhead/rainbow trout. Migration impediments, both natural and manmade structures, are being identified with the purpose of repairing them to allow adult steelhead access to creek regions that have been blocked for decades.

Other actions include conservation land management plans, federal cost-sharing grants and programs and ‘fish friendly’ land practices.

In order to reduce fine sediment inputs to creeks, demonstration projects (rip-rap stabilization) are being implemented in regions of major bank slumps.
 

Hilton Creek is located directly downstream of Bradbury Dam, and is the uppermost tributary steelhead/rainbow trout currently have access to. The objective of the fish passage project is to improve fish passage through the existing migration barrier. The barrier consists of a near-vertical 6-foot cascade and an approximately 140-foot long confined bedrock chute situated immediately upstream of the cascade. The fish passage project design focuses on reducing the effective height of the cascade by modifying the streambed immediately upstream of the top of the cascade to create a resting pool and constructing a channel obstruction at the downstream control of the plunge pool to increase water depth in the pool. The high flow velocities in the bedrock chute area will be addressed by constructing 5 large channel obstructions (or roughness elements), which will significantly reduce flow velocities and increase water depth in this area.

Improved passage over the cascade will be achieved by modifying the streambed immediately upstream of the top of the cascade to create a pool in which the fish can rest. In addition, a channel obstruction will be installed at the downstream control of the plunge pool, which will act like a small dam, reducing the effective height of the cascade by increasing the depth of the pool at higher flows. The preliminary design proposes to lower the thalweg 1-foot over a distance of approximately 10 feet upstream of the top of the cascade. The purpose of the lower thalweg elevation is to create a pool at the top of the cascade while not increasing the height of the cascade. A cast-in-place concrete plug will be placed at the downstream edge of the excavated area to create the pool, and the altered streambed will be sloped to match the existing stream channel bottom approximately 10 feet upstream of the cascade.

Quiota Creek Road Crossing Repair

                              Quiota Creek 

Quiota Creek is a tributary of the Santa Ynez River, located approximately 39.6 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. Habitat enhancement activities in Quiota Creek represent one of the best opportunities for successful steelhead/rainbow trout restoration on the lower Santa Ynez River (SYRTAC 1999). The lower reaches of this creek typically dry during the summer; however, the upper reach of Quiota Creek is typically perennial (SYRTAC 1997, 1999). Habitat surveys suggest there is good rearing and spawning in the creek. A resident trout "seed" population has been documented in the upper section supporting the contention that there is high quality habitat available (SYRTAC 1999). Presently, steelhead/rainbow trout access to the upper reach of Quiota Creek is impeded by 9 arizona (fair-weather) road crossings which act as barriers to passage at low and high flows (S. Engblom pers. Comm., 1999). The road crossings present a vertical barrier due to the 2-4 foot drop on the downstream side of the road crossings, a flow barrier at low flows due to sheet flow across the crossing, and possibly a velocity barrier at higher flows due to sheet flow across the crossing, and possibly a velocity barrier at higher flows since the concrete surface of the crossing does not provide for velocity shadows or energy dissipation.

Three of the road crossings will be modified in the summer of 2001 by the Santa Barbara County Roads Department. The proposed project will modify the remaining six road crossings to enable migrating steelhead to access the upper reach and headwaters of Quiota Creek. This project is a critical component of the steelhead recovery strategy for the Santa Ynez River. SYRTAC studies have documented that oversummering habitat for all age classes of steelhead is the most limiting factor in the Santa Ynez River watershed. By improving fish passage on Quiota Creek, an additional 24,288 linear feet of existing high quality habitat will be made available to migrating steelhead.

In summary, passage at each of the 6 road crossings will be improved by constructing the following at each location:

• A rock riffle or roughened ramp fishway terminating approximately 15-20 feet downstream of the road crossing to provide a resting pool between the ramp crest and road crossing

• A low flow channel in the road crossing to concentrate flow during low flow periods to improve juvenile and resident population movement between crossings; and,

• A vortex rock weir approximately 5-10 feet upstream of the road crossing to aid in dissipating flow energy and create velocity shadows for the migrating steelhead to rest

                   Quiota Creek

The low flow channels in each of the road crossings will act to concentrate flow during low flow periods, which will enhance the opportunity for juvenile and resident population movement between crossings. Presently, stream flow during low flow periods consists of sheet flow across the crossing, and concentrating the flow into a defined channel will create a deeper passage corridor. The channels will be created by cutting out a section of the road crossing parallel to the streamflow and will be approximately 1.5 feet wide by 8-inches deep. The final design at each location will be prepared using site specific information, and the channel will be constructed using a concrete saw and jack hammer.

Salsipuedes Creek is a tributary to the Santa Ynez River, located about 15 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. A fish migration passage impediment exists at the State Highway 1 Bridge crossing over Salsipuedes Creek.

    Before the project at Salsipuedes Creek

At low flows, fish are unable to negotiate either upstream or downstream of this structure. The impediment is a concrete/rock apron that extends approximately 40 feet in length downstream of the bridge and spans the entire width of the creek channel (approximately 60 feet). A cascade region down the center of the stream channel blocks fish migration. Steelhead/rainbow trout attempting to negotiate the obstacle during low flow conditions can injure themselves when they jump from the pool and land on the concrete boulder surface above.

The solution to the problem was to create an opening in the apron by excavating three small pool habitats and bracketing them with a concrete shelf at their downstream ends.  Specifically, it modified the concrete/rock structure of the apron to create a migration pathway for steelhead during low flow periods.  Reinforced concrete was used to create 3 small pool areas in the lower portion of the structure, which will create a backwater effect and reduce the height of the 5-6 foot vertical barrier to approximately 1.5 feet.  The project also involved constructing additional concrete structures to redirect flow from the existing low flow pathways to the new pool area, and lowering portions of the existing structure to enhance depth of flow through the re-configured low-flow pathway. 

Collectively, these actions will enhance steelhead/rainbow trout migration during low flow periods by focusing the flow through stepped pool confined area and reducing the effective height over the barrier.  During higher flows (flows greater than 20 cfs), water will cascade over the entire structure, as it currently does, without impediment, and steelhead/rainbow trout can continue to migrate over the crest during high flows.

The net benefit is that the project allows unimpeded access by both adults and juveniles to approximately 1.5 miles of Salsipuedes Creek, and approximately 10 miles of El Jaro Creek and adjacent tributaries during the summer and winter period.

Consistent with the recommendations in the Fish Management Plan, this project proposes conducting a series of public workshops and demonstration projects designed to: 1) highlight a number of common non-point source pollution issues on rangelands in the Salsipuedes/El Jaro watershed and good rangeland management practices which avoid these problems, 2) implement technologically feasible, cost effective demonstration projects that "fix" three common problems and, 3) conduct follow-up workshops which provides technical details for implementing the demonstration projects and describes methods to monitor and measure the success of the projects in terms of water quality and instream fish habitat.

In addressing the sedimentation problems in this watershed, the proposed project will help restore water quality and prevent further water quality degradation on the property where the demonstration projects are implemented. The workshops will demonstrate to local landowners how similar projects on their property can further improve water quality and fish habitat in the watershed with minimal impacts to grazing operations.