2006 Central Coast Field School

Central Coast Salmon Enhancement and Salmonid Restoration Federation hosted a Field School from May 16-18, 2006 in Arroyo Grande, California.

Course Instructors Bill Weaver and Danny Hagans of Pacific Watershed Associates presented Culvert and Road Drainage Practices to Protect and Benefit Salmon and Steelhead in the Central Coast Region. The three-day course included classroom material as well as several sessions in the field. The course highlighted proper ditch relief and stream crossing culvert installation, with and without downspouts, flared inlets, trash racks, etc., as well as proper installation of critical rolling dips or measures to eliminate stream diversions. Classroom and field methods to determine appropriate culvert sizing for peak stream flows, sediment, and woody debris in transport; Proper approaches for addressing potential road fill and landing failures, as well as spoil disposal techniques. The course illustrated a variety of road bed and ditch drainage approaches. These include when, where, and how to convert insloped and ditched roads to outsloped roads with or without a ditch, when, where, and how to construct rolling dips with and without rock, and when, where, and how to dispose of berms along roads. The course also addressed how to properly excavate a stream crossing fill to minimize post excavation erosion and sediment delivery to streams, and how to reduce roadbed width on excessively wide segments of road. Next summer we will offer a bioengineering and road decommissioning short-courses on the Central Coast.