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officer for the US Forest Service. Pre-project photographs of the stream channel were <br />also taken at this time. <br />Treatments to stabilize and restore the upper Slci Creek channel and the two tributary <br />gullies began in late July and were completed in late-September, 2007. Working with <br />Fin-Up Habitat Consultants, Inc and Chaparrel Construction, LCC, eighteen cross-vane <br />structures were installed in the upper Slci Creek channel. Seven cross-vanes were <br />installed in the lower reach of the project area and eleven cross-vanes installed in the <br />upper reach using a Komatsu PC150 and a Deere TC-62H loader. Approximately 150 <br />tons of granite rock 24" to 48" in diameter was acquired to constn~ct the 18 cross-vanes. <br />(One hundred tons of rock material was donated by the City of Colorado Springs). h1 <br />addition two major multi-thread braids were converted to a single thread chamiel and 300 <br />feet of stream bai~lc was defined using the excavator to place eight large trees (12" - 18" <br />DBH, and approximately 30 feet long) and boulder along the toe of the stream baiilc <br />slope. The mechanized work was completed in six days at the end of July, 2007. The <br />work proved to be quite challenging. The decomposed Pikes Peak granite soils that make <br />up the chamlel floor initially made it difficult to get the boulders to sit tightly together. <br />An alternative to the typical technique of dragging the boulder into place with the <br />excavator was found to be preferred. The alternative method was to place each boulder <br />using the hydraulic thumb on the excavator to minimize the quantity of finer substrates <br />caught between the boulders. While not applied in this project it may be desirable, in <br />future projects, to place a layer of geo-textile fabric between the footer boulders and the <br />top row of boulders to capture fine sediments that may flush through the interstitial <br />spaces. For this project, these spaces were filled by hand with cobble and small boulder, <br />and appear to be effective in holding the finer materials in place. Further monitoring <br />should indicate whether this method is adequate to provide proper grade control and <br />function of the cross vanes. <br />