County officials released a proposal to put water back in Bouquet Canyon Creek to residents Friday for public review, as officials develop a plan to restore the habitat of an endangered species of fish and keep Bouquet Canyon Road safe for motorists.

In the past decade, county officials discovered sections of the creek has accumulated so much silt from heavy rains that the creekbed was level with the road, causing dangerous flooding.

Upon this discovery, the creek was dammed off, with the water it received from the Bouquet Reservoir stopped to avoid overflow onto the road.

However, this caused significant habitat depletion for the three spined stickleback, a fish classified as “fully protected” by the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. The fish live in the Santa Clara River watershed, which is fed by the creek.

The new plan released by county officials Friday outlines five sites that would be restored along a 3-mile stretch of the creek. These five locations have been affected by built-up sediment and vegetation that have in recent years impeded the flow of the water course.

Plans for fixing these issues include creating shallower side slopes next to the creek, replanting of riparian root mass material along the side slopes, and adding boulder clusters at strategic locations along the creek to slow creek flows and create eddying effects within the creek.

A major effort to increase safety on the road would be the removal of much of the accumulated sediment in the areas where it has built up to be level with the road.

The plan also accounts for if another storm, of the kind that left the large amount of silt in the creekbed in the first place, were to blow through the area, an emergency situation would be declared, allowing crews from the county to use heavy machinery such as excavators to quickly return the creekbed to it’s original level, before silt and water could flow onto the roadway and become a hazard to drivers.

A sixth site labeled in the document would create a fish preserve at the abandoned Zuni Campground site, allowing for repopulation of three spined sticklebacks in the area.

The site would consist of a series of slow moving pools of water, with vegetation and other conditions optimized for the fish.

Residents can see the full proposal here.