[env-trinity] Funds available for private road repairs in Weaver Creek drainage

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/local/article_ba0420f8-3a91-11e7-9571-cf57f7d3243d.html
Funds available for private road repairs in Weaver Creek drainage
   
   - By Sally Morris The Trinity Journal
 - 2 min ago
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This photo shows a typical road failure on many private roads.    
   - Contributed
This system was replaced by a single, 72-inch pipe.    
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Heavy rains over the past winter proved a good test for multiple private road improvements completed last year in the Browns Creek drainage south of Douglas City to prevent erosion of fine sediments from washing into the fish-bearing tributary of the Trinity River and clogging up the spawning beds.Several years in the making, the Browns Creek project used grant funding made available through the Trinity River Restoration Program to assist landowners in a completely voluntary, cost-sharing effort to fix erosion problems on private roads and driveways. It has been implemented by the Five Counties Salmonid Conservation Program (5C Program) that has spent at least $137,000 on it so far.The Browns Creek project included more than 65 treatment sites ranging from culvert replacements to rolling dip installations and ditch reinforcement all designed to drain water off the roads and disperse the flow where it won’t cause damage. It involves only willing participants, and they are asked to contribute a 10 percent share of the road improvement costs.The project is moving into a new phase now to offer the same types of road upgrades to private landowners in the Weaver Creek drainage that includes the community of Weaverville, Tucker Hill, Democrat Gulch, Oregon Mountain (Weaverville side), Garden Gulch, West and East Weaver Creek, Little Browns Creek and Union Hill. The upper Bear Creek subdivision is also included as its creeks drain into the Weaver Creek watershed.The effort was born out of the Trinity River Restoration Program where participants noted that 20 years of work to correct erosion impacts from public lands “could all be undone by failing to deal with impacts from private lands. We found a big gap there,” said 5C Director Mark Lancaster.He said the project to upgrade private roads has been slow-going, taking years to inventory and prioritize problem sites and then three more to implement the site-specific corrections. The program handles state permit issues so the landowners don’t have to and retains contractors to perform the work.“It takes time to build trust, and the outreach has been difficult. A lot of people think a bad road keeps people out, but really, a badly failing road draws all the regulators in,” Lancaster said.He added that the program offers landowners a great deal if they weigh the cost of a yearly load of gravel for ongoing road repair against their contribution toward a long-term upgrade that could be very costly to attempt on their own.“Culvert pipe is very expensive, so we often see pipes that are too small, or multiple pipes at minimum lengths that are vertically and horizontally misaligned,” Lancaster said, adding there are standards that apply, but little oversight of contractors that may be hired for individual jobs.He said properties have seen a lot of turnover in the past few years when new owners have only experienced drought conditions, not torrents of rain flooding seasonal creeks. He added that development has also increased in the upper reaches of the watershed where roads were never constructed to endure the year-round use they are now receiving.A landowner outreach effort is currently under way in the Weaver Creek watershed that contains 107 miles of private roads, including 40 percent on Sierra Pacific Industries land and 60 percent servicing homes, agriculture, timber or recreation properties.One of a small crew of 5C technicians in the process of surveying the roads to measure culverts and identify sedimentation problems, Cindy Buxton said landowners’ privacy is respected “and we are only looking at roads. We are not associated with any regulatory enforcement and we don’t report whatever else is happening on a property.”The inventory seeks to include neighbors and regular users of a given road where multiple driveways more often contribute to the erosion problems than a single source.Letters have been mailed and notices posted on gates informing landowners of the program and inviting their participation.A big fan of the project, Jeffry England benefited last summer through the replacement of several undersized culverts installed over the years with one large one under his driveway off Deer Lick Springs Road in the Douglas City area.“We’ve lost our road three times in the 12 years we’ve been there, including twice in one year. We’ve seen 70 feet of our road with water running over it. It’s just a seasonal creek that runs dry every year, but this winter it carried a massive amount of water,” England said, adding the new culvert handled the extremely wet winter with no problems at all. The actual work on his property was completed in less than one day.Total cost for that one project was $23,000 including $13,000 for just the pipe, making it prohibitive for many to accomplish on their own.Landowners who may be interested in the program may call the 5C program at 623-3967, ext. 115, or email cbuxton at 5counties.org.
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