Before: Inadequately sized culvert at the Oxbow Creek Road stream crossing on Oxbow Creek. The culvert often became plugged and was a water velocity barrier to native brook trout. Photo Credit: Andrea Ania, USFWS.

After: Oxbow Creek RSX on Oxbow Creek - several hours after culvert replacement the backwater is draining, and the channel is beginning to redefine itself. Photo Credit: Andrea Ania.

A five-foot elliptical culvert was installed on Oxbow Creek at Oxbow Creek Road on September, 17, 2008, providing 7.5 miles of unimpeded fish passage for native brook trout in the Black River Watershed.  The Cheboygan County Road Commission installed the new culvert to replace a failing, undersized (24-inch) concrete culvert that was acting as a physical and thermal barrier to upstream fish movement and was a major source of sediment entering the system. 

The increased diameter of the new culvert will reduce water velocities and thermal pollution, allowing native brook trout upstream access to spawning and rearing habitat.  Based on water temperature data collected by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Upper Black River Watershed Restoration Committee (UBRWRC), the old culvert acted like a dam, increasing summer water temperatures and creating a thermal barrier to brook trout.  Optimal and lethal water temperatures for brook trout range from 57-66 ºF and 70-79 ºF, respectively (Brown 1971).  Water temperature data will continue to be recorded next summer to measure the benefits of the new culvert on thermal pollution.  The new culvert will also reduce sediment input to the stream, which was a major source of pollution, potentially destroying valuable brook trout spawning and nursery habitat downstream. 

Water temperature data collected at Oxbow Creek Road-Stream Crossing on Oxbow Creek from 2004 to 2007.  Data courtesy of Tim Cwalinski, Michigan DNR, Gaylord.

Brook trout are a native species to northern Michigan river systems.  They have lost much of their habitat to development and increased road-stream crossings that were inadequately designed to handle water flow conditions, hinder fish movement, and contribute sediment.  This project is consistent with the Black River Watershed Stewardship Initiative-Nonpoint Source Pollution Management Plan (2002).  Partners for this project included Michigan DNR, UBRWRC, Cheboygan County Road Commission, and Huron Pines.