Upper Black River Council

Summer Conservation Corps weekly report

Report The 2012 season began on April 30 for two crew members. They worked part time for two weeks preparing the equipment for the season, building duck-billed cables, and staging some LWD material along the Black River. In addition, they removed several small beaver dams from Canada Creek and began drawing down one larger dam.

On May 14 a third crew member came aboard and they began building LWD structures on the Black River. Work began right were we left off last year, the “Beaver Dam Club” stretch of the river. A total of 13 structures were installed during the week.They also continued to tear down the larger Canada Creek beaver dam. After stopping every morning for 5 days, the creek was finally open again.

May 21, the fourth crew member joined them on the river. For the next two weeks they continued installing LWD structures on the BDC permit working towards the Trail 94 Cul-de-sac, and the end of the permit. Another 29 structures were installed during this two weeks.

On June 4, the fifth and final crew member started work. In two days, the crew completed eight LWD structures. This completed the BDC permit. The remainder of the week was spent removing a large log jam from the Black River and repairing approximately 20 structures from previous years. The next week the crew began work on Canada Creek within Canada Creek Ranch. A total of 21 structures were completed in the week. The majority of these (17) were old structures that were repaired and enhanced.

For the next two weeks, June 18 through June 28, the crew continued work on Canada Creek. Another 37 structures were completed, 9 new and 28 old. They also removed one large log jam and a smaller one from the creek.

Starting July 2, the crew moved onto Black River Ranch. As of July 17, they had completed a total of 39 LWD structures. This completes the BRR permit except for work on a few waypoints which were restricted due to “the beetle”.

This brings the season totals to:

BDC permit – 50 structures

CCR – 58 structures (13 new and 45 repaired and enhanced)

BRR –39 structures

The Bandish Bruot Beaver photo is of Phil Bandish and Richard Bruot who, among other things, do some beaver trapping in the Milligan Creek system.  The Dogs and Brady Falls is a photo of one of the two natural falls in the Milligan system.  The slowed Milligan reach is one of the difficult to reach stretches impacted by the presence of beaver.  The Waveland Road perched culverts is just what it says and is very much on the UBRC radar for replacement to improve fish passage throughout the system.