In the quiet valley between Ontare and San Roque roads, rocks tumble out the back of a yellow Volvo dump truck.
Where there was once a cement wall, an excavator scoops up the boulders and transports them 180 degrees around to the shaded Arroyo Burro creek that runs through Stevens Park.
A Santa Barbara County flood control crew is working to remove the San Roque debris basin wall, which was built in 1964, and renovate the basin.
“We will still have the full functionality of the basin itself to capture large debris, but we’re making it so fish and other aquatic species can come through this system,” said Seth Shank, Santa Barbara County Flood Control Environmental Planner. “It was a complete and total barrier before,” Shank said.
While its dam–shaped appearance might suggest it was a dam, the basin wall actually had a pipe running through it, controlling the flow of water, rather than collecting it upstream.
However, the pipe piercing the wall had gone rusty, and a new pipe cover that was installed last year was damaged, so crews opted to remove the wall altogether and redesign the debris basin.
The new stream bed that the crew are working on will make maintenance much easier than trying to access the pipe.
The new project will feature rocky outcrops that will guide larger debris, such as tree trunks, to the side of the river bank.
The county public works department posted on social media that the one of the fish species that will be able to use the creek as passage is the endangered Steelhead Trout. While the species live in the ocean, the trout travel up creeks to lay eggs in freshwater habitats.
Hikers planning to hike the Jesusita trail should be mindful of the construction if starting at the Stevens Creek or Ontare Hills Lane entrance. The trailhead across from the reservoir on San Roque road bypasses the construction.
Tree Removal at San Jose Creek
The San Roque debris basin renovation is just one of several storm mitigation projects in preparation for storm season. A few miles down the road from San Roque, Flood Control crews worked to remove a tree that had fallen into the San Jose Creek under Kellogg Avenue.
The tree had fallen across the creek, in a stretch of water about two feet deep. At the moment, it doesn’t seem much of a hazard, but with a bit of rain and an increase in water level, it could quickly dangerously block the flow of water.
The crew of four worked together to ready the winch—attached to the back of a Ford F-350 Superduty—and pull the tree out.
Flood Control Maintenance Leader Anthony Villalovos waded into the water and attached the cable around the base of the toppled trunk.
The winch fired up and the tree was slowly dragged out of the water.
Right as the trunk climbed over the river bank, the cable unexpectedly snapped.
Ten minutes later, the chainsaw came out, Villalovos cut the trunk into multiple pieces and the crew dragged each section out with the freshly repaired cable.
Now with the tree split into three sections, they started feeding the trunk and branches into the wood chipper.
From a glance, the practice may look harmful on the creek environment, but it’s aimed to minimize any negative impacts.
“We are addressing things that are a hazard or could be a hazard,” said Lael Wageneck, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department. Aside from the targeted dead tree or hazardous trunk, they aim to leave everything else as it is.
El Niño
With El Niño on the horizon, there is an intensified focus on the upcoming storm season but Wageneck said that they can’t let the designation be a guarantee of what conditions could come.
“We’ve had El Niño years with less than average rainfall and La Niña years with above average rainfall,” Wageneck said.
Seth Shank echoed the same idea.
“Regardless of an El Niño prediction or not, we’re doing the same exact things to prepare every single winter for potential high storm flows.”
