The District recently completed two watershed restoration projects on Bureau of Land Management lands that will reduce the sediment delivery to the Trinity River. Conrad Gulch located near Junction City off of Canyon Creek Road had partially blown out crossings removed to keep more sediment from eroding from an unmaintained 2.3 mile segment of road. During a storm event in early 1997, two 36” culverts on Conrad Gulch Road plugged with debris causing in one instance the creek to run down and away from natural stream crossing (a diversion) and off slope; this resulted in about 1500 cubic yards of sediment to be delivered to Conrad Gulch, then Canyon Creek and finally to the Trinity River. At the other site the pipe plugged and washed out the entire road crossing with about 600 cubic yards of sediment. Four culverts were removed during this project and over 1,700 cubic yards of sediment was excavated from stream crossings. All excavated stream crossings were seeded and mulched and Big Leaf Maple trees were planted.

Another project was to upgrade a severely eroding Union Hill Road between Weaverville and Douglas City that provides access to the Trinity River near Steel Bridge (across the river from the Steel Bridge campground). This old historic road is accessed from Union Hill Road near Weaverville. Union Hill Road is located 1.4 miles north of Douglas City along Highway 299, north of the Trinity River. The first 0.43 mile of the Union Hill to Trinity River at Steel Bridge road crosses SPI land. After crossing the BLM boundary the road steepens to an average road grade of 7% until Mile 1.16 where the road grade flattens along the river. There are several sharp, steep hairpin turns on this road and trailers and vehicles larger than a 10-yard dump truck are not advised.

None of the stream, spring and swale crossings on the road have culverts. Stormwater flows down the road in several locations, causing deep long-running gullying of the road surface. Since these gullies generally deposit into a watercourse, by correcting these active diversions with strategically placed road drainage improvements, sediment delivery to the Trinity River will be greatly reduced. The project included installing rocked rolling dips to disperse road surface runoff, grading, and rock surfacing to fill in existing gullies, and creating drainage for a spring that resulted in significant erosion along the roadway.