Construction work on a portion of Forest Service Road 1011 at Kelsay Creek will begin next week.

The construction project is a continuation of ongoing aquatic restoration work in the Desolation Creek area and the result of planning completed through the recent Granite-Desolation Aquatic Restoration Project Decision Memo, according to a Forest Service press release. Kelsay Creek is a perennial cold-water stream that is designated critical habitat for threatened Mid-Columbia River steelhead.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife screens shop out of John Day will replace the stream crossing culvert at this location with a new 18-foot wide bottomless arch culvert that will allow for improved fish and aquatic organism passage and allow for larger stream flow events to pass under the road without causing infrastructure damage. The construction work will require that the full length of FSR 1011 will be periodically closed from July 17 through Aug. 15 and will reopen once work is completed. Closure signs will be posted on FSR 1011 at the junction with FSR 1010.

This project is being conducted under the Good Neighbor Authority, a state-federal partnership that allows for pooling of funds and more efficient forest, rangeland and aquatic restoration to occur.

“Over the last several years the Forest Service has collaborated with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and other partners to improve fish passage across the Desolation Creek watershed, and we are grateful for their heavy equipment operation skills, financial support and ingenuity in implementing these projects,” said Ian Reid, North Fork John Day district ranger.

Forest Service partners have already begun hauling heavy equipment and supplies in to FSR 1011, and construction activities will be ongoing for several weeks.

For more information on this project, contact the North Fork John Day Ranger District at 541-427-3231. For more information on the Umatilla National Forest, visit fs.usda.gov/umatilla.