designed to minimize erosion. Mitigations include limiting ground 

 equipment skidding to winter operations, cable harvesting on steep slopes, 

 maintaining adequate streamside buffers to harvest, and helicopter 

 harvesting for steep sites not accessible by cable. The valley floor of Deer 

 Creek provides a wide flat buffer to the base of steeper slopes that would 

 be cable harvested. Existing roads would be utilized for access to salvage 

 harvest units in the Thompson Creek parcel (Section 14) and Camelia 

 (section 6). These sections would be primarily cable harvested, which 

 could potentially disturb up to 5% of the harvest units and would present 

 low sediment risk. Erosion control would be installed in all disturbed cable 

 and tractor harvest units where required. 



About 6. 1 miles of new road would be constructed under the proposed 

 action, four of which would be in the Deer Creek drainage. The new 

 construction would be primarily in portions of Section 16 that have not 

 been harvested and do not have roads for access. The new proposed roads 

 cross steep slopes and are well spaced to maximize the distance of cable 

 harvest and minimize number of roads. Soil materials are typically very 

 gravelly and resistant to erosion (refer to soils section). The direct effect of 

 the roads is an addition of about 12 acres of disturbance in the Deer Creek 

 watershed. Bare soil from these roads could increase the risk of sediment 

 delivery to a stream. These roads would have long-term erosion control 

 features placed in them to control erosion and sedimentation. The 

 proposed roads would include a stream crossing on a perennial stream 

 segment in section 16. The stream currently goes underground prior to 

 reaching Deer Creek. Due to fire effects, the stream may have some future 

 overland flow and contribute sediment to Deer Creek. Culverts in this 

 channel and in other draws have been sized to meet flow capacity 

 expected for potential increased runoff associated with the fire. There may 

 be minor temporary sedimentation associated with culvert installation. 

 Erosion control measures would be implemented to minimize sediment. 



In the winter, a temporary bridge would be placed on a site previously 

 used in section 8. No new excavation or disturbance is expected and the 

 portable bridge would have adequate span to reach well past the channel 

 banks to prevent disturbance of the channel banks. Even with winter 

 conditions, on-site erosion control would be used to prevent 

 sedimentation. The crossing would be removed in the winter following 

 use. No other direct effects to water quality or water yield are expected 

 with Alternative B: Harvest. Alternative B: Harvest has a low risk of 

 directly affecting sediment by placing a portable bridge on Deer Creek. 



Indirect effects to the Fish Creek watershed could occur with Alternative 

 B: Harvest on up to 2,679 acres with a current harvest of 1,095 acres. 

 Tractor yarding would occur on 169 acres, cable yarding on 1, acres, and 

 50 acres would be helicopter yarded. The ground disturbance from these 



Fish Creek Salvage Environmental Assessment 4-5 



