Low-Tech Solutions to Improve Walters Creek

One of the Estuary Program’s goals is to restore habitats to better support wildlife and improve ecosystem function. Creek restoration can involve highly engineered designs and heavy equipment to bring back functioning ecosystems. Over the past year, the Estuary Program and partners have worked to plan, permit, and implement a project that uses a lighter touch. We are utilizing low-tech process-based restoration to improve creek habitat on Walters Creek.

Process-based restoration (PBR) techniques vary depending on the site and region where the project is taking place. Our project uses hand-built structures to mimic natural processes and creek function. These structures help sediment to settle to increase elevation of the creek or ground. They can also encourage sediment to move from one location and deposit at another.

Why Walters Creek?

Erosion on this small creek has historically contributed large amounts of sediment to the Morro Bay watershed. This erosion lowered the elevation of the creek channel. While erosion is a natural and beneficial process, excess sedimentation can degrade habitats over time.

*Walters Creek, a smaller creek that drains to Chorro Creek, has limited native plant cover along its banks, leading to increased erosion of the creek channel.*

The project goal is to capture more sediment in the channel while increasing the duration of surface flow. Walters Creek typically flows for only a few months in the spring and runs dry by midsummer. Increased surface flows can expand native plant and wetland habitat for sensitive species like California red-legged frog and southwestern pond turtle.

Implementation Work on Walters

In September, we worked with partners to implement forty structures on Walters Creek to help improve its function and habitat. The work was supported on the ground by over thirty California Conservation Corpsmembers (CCC) and Forestry Corps members. They are part of a youth workforce development program that provides training in fields such as fire management and habitat restoration.

*Members of the California Conservation Corps and Forestry Corps collected coyote brush and eucalyptus from fuel reduction projects to create the PBR structures.*

These low-tech PBR structures vary by site and region based on the natural materials present, flow regime of the stream, and other factors.

Build Like a Beaver

Beaver dam analogs mimic the effects on a creek of a dam built by beavers. They promote ponding of water and deposition of sediment behind the structure. This deposited sediment raises the elevation of the channel bed.

The team built beaver dam analogs (BDAs) at Walters Creek using layers of soil, brush, and wood to encourage sediment deposition and water ponding upstream of the structure. The structures have a ramp of sediment on the upstream side and a lattice of brush and wood on the downstream side. The front of the structure acts like a filter, slowing down the water’s path through the mud and vegetation. The team installed large pieces of wood and wooden posts on the downstream end to stabilize the lattice structure.

*CCC and Forestry Corps interwove layers of coyote brush to build twenty-five BDAs on Walters Creek.*

PALS Lend a Helping Hand

The team also installed post-assisted log structures (PALS) to mimic wood accumulation in the stream, providing instream habitat and slowing water velocity. PALS consist of interlocking wood pieces secured together with vertical posts. When PALS are attached to the bank, they can support increased sinuosity, or curviness, of the creek. This creates localized erosion to build up the channel elevation downstream of the structure.

*In areas where the creek is narrow, PALS are used to create more instream structure and slow down the water flow.*

Addressing Headcuts

These photos show before and after a headcut treatment. The photo on the left shows a two-foot deep headcut before treatment. The photo on the right shows the site after a headcut treatment was installed. The team packed coyote brush into the headcut to reduce water velocity and encourage sediment deposition.

Headcuts are areas that tend to erode due to the type of sediment present. They are made worse by fast–moving waters. A headcut will often continue to migrate upstream until it reaches a more stable sediment layer. Headcut treatment involves layering and packing coyote brush or oak branches into the headcut. Larger wood and posts can be installed to stabilize the structure. As water hits the structure, it will slow down, preventing future erosion. In some cases, the vegetation will trap enough sediment that the hole created by the headcut will fill in.

A Conversation With the Creek

*Creek monitoring, like measuring channel width and water depth, can be used to inform additional building or repairs of PBR structures.*

Process-based restoration is an iterative management technique that evolves with how the creek and structures respond to water on the landscape. We will continue to install additional structures and add to or repair existing sites for the next five years. The Estuary Program and partners also will track changes in vegetation, elevation, wildlife presence, and surface flows over time. We are excited to see how the structures respond to winter rains and how we can continue to improve creek function through low-tech process-based approaches.

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Oct 17, 2025