PETERSBURG — The U.S. Forest Service is moving forward with a project to restore a stream south of Petersburg.
Ohmer Creek has been damaged by decades-old logging and road-building where it crosses under Mitkof Highway about 21 miles south of Petersburg. During construction of the roadway in 1959 and 1960, trees were cut from about 20 acres around the stream, leaving a swath of the creek where heavy rains can erode the banks, KFSK-FM reported.
Forest Service hydrologist Heath Whitacre said the project is planning to add wood, create new structures and add cover to fish-rearing ponds at both Ohmer Creek and a tributary called Lumpy Creek.
“We want to re-establish the connection between one of the rearing ponds and Lumpy Creek that’s only connected at higher water flows,” Whitacre said.
The stream has populations of three kinds of salmon and two species of trout. Adding wood to the stream can help stabilize banks and create pools where young salmon can survive heavy rains or winter freezes. An environmental analysis for the project states the quality of the habitat in the two creeks is declining and will continue to worsen without restoration work.
Some have raised concerns that wood collection from the surrounding national forest land at Woodpecker Cove will degrade deer habitat, but Whitacre said officials have considered those issues. He said the stream restoration project will require using some wood from somewhere in the forest.
“We’ve collected wood from old-growth stands, young-growth stands,” Whitacre said. “We’ve used logs from decommissioned bridges. We’ve used wood from riparian areas. We’ve used blowdown patches. We’ve taken it from highway expansions. We’ve taken it from road building. Basically wherever we choose to take the wood there’s usually somebody who thinks we should have chosen somewhere else.”
Whitacre said old-growth trees will be cut next to an area that’s already been logged.
“If you look at the analysis and you look at where we’re getting the wood, versus the benefits of what we’re doing, we’re basically taking two acres out of production, old-growth POG (Productive Old Growth) they call it, but we are benefiting about a half-mile of salmon stream on a large salmon stream and a portion of the 20-acre flood plain,” Whitacre said. “And so, I thought it was worthwhile, the decision-maker also thought it was worthwhile.”
