Tough Commute?
202468 Big Beef Creek Emergency Flood Repairs
Ivan Turner

On December 2 – 3, 2007, a storm had severe consequences to the School of Aquatic and Fishery Science Big Beef Creek Research Station located near Seabeck WA.

This combination of rainfall and snowmelt caused a washout of the main access road; including a washout of the access roadway crossing the existing spawning channel, washout of the roadway near the rearing ponds, severed the access road between the facility and the well-head, and damaged the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife’s fish counting weir located on UW property. (see below)

The Big Beef Creek Research site is approximately 400 acres with 10 acres of sluices, pools, pump rooms and wet labs associated directly with fisheries operations. Buildings on the site include freshwater laboratories, dry lab facilities, hatchery building, meeting room, maintenance shed, dry storage and five cabins.

Big Beef Creek is a heavily altered system that is located on the west side of the Kitsap Penunsula. The stream flows northward for a total of 18 stream km until it enters Hood Canal approximately 8 km northeast of the town of Seabeck.

Big Beef Creek provides exceptional spawming and rearing habitat for salmon. Returns of Coho salmon number around 3,000 annually and Chum salmon may number up to 3,500. Other fish species found in Big Beef Creek include sculpins, yellow perch, Pacific lamprey, stickleback and black-sided dance.

CPO was contacted by Aquatic and Fisheries on December 4 to initiate repairs to the facility. The UW Department of Finance & Facilities issued the finding of Emergency & Waiver of public bid requirements on December 7, 2007. The UW Project Manager initiated contact with RH2 Engineering on the same day to discuss the project scope, schedule and budget to begin the negotiations for the consultant agreement. CPO received funding from CASPO on December 18, 2007. On December 20th the Kitsap County site development activity permit was submitted to allow the contractor to repair the main access road.

CPO contacted a local civil contractor (Zephyr) to conduct a pre-bid walkthrough on December 21 to discuss repair to the access road. Kitsap Co. and Washington Department of Fish &Wildlife grated the joint site permit and Hydraulic Project Application on December 24. Zephyr began the repairs to the access road on January 3 and completed the work on January 10th. The contract negotiations with RH2 were held the week of December 24, 2007 and Capital Projects Office issued the professional service agreement on January 14, 2008.

This agreement includes design, geology, geotechnical engineering, regulatory professionals, and fisheries scientists. One of the many FEMA requirements for this project is the submission for a Joint Aquatic Resources Permit (JARPA). This particular permit is reviewed and approved by WDF&W and can be reviewed/approved by Washington Department of Ecology, Washington Department of Natural Resources, Army Corps of Engineers, US Coast Guard and the US Department of Transportation. We expect approval of the JARPA by the end of June, 2008. Work will commence on the remainder of the repairs upon approval of the JARPA.