BPA project 2002-070-00, entitled “Restoring Anadromous Fish Habitat in the Lapwai Creek Watershed”, addresses the need to restore the Lapwai Creek aquatic ecosystem so that the habitat within the watershed no longer limits recovery of the ESA Threatened lower Clearwater Steelhead population.  

Through an ongoing partnership with the Nez Perce Tribe (NPT), the Nez Perce Soil and Water Conservation District (NPSWCD) proposes to implement habitat improvement projects to address the primary limiting factors that will increase the productivity and viability of Lapwai Creek.  This project works towards the goals of the NPCC/BPA Fish and Wildlife Programs and the ESA through the 2008 FCPRS Biological Opinion and the Idaho Recovery Plan for Chinook and Steelhead.  

The problem statement and technical background section was developed by the Nez Perce Soil and Water Conservation District (NWSWCD) and the Nez Perce Tribe (NPT) collaboratively as was the preparation of Strategy for the Ecological Restoration of Lapwai Creek Watershed (Lapwai Strategy) (Richardson and Rasmussen,2009). The Lapwai Strategy is used by both organizations to direct watershed restoration work.

This document includes: I. Location and History; II. Species at Risk; III Limiting Factors and Justification for Restoration Activities; IV Proposed Actions to Address Limiting Factors; V Proposed Monitoring Plan; and VI Organization Description.

I. Location and History

Lapwai Creek, a 4th order stream, includes the tributaries of Mission, Sweetwater, Webb and Tom Beall Creeks (Figure 1). From its origin, Lapwai Creek flows 8.9 kilometers before discharging into Winchester Lake, near Winchester, Idaho. From the outflow of Winchester Lake, the creek continues its northward course for approximately forty-one km and enters the Clearwater River 18 km east of Lewiston, ID. Highway 95 abuts the west bank of the creek from Winchester Lake to stream km 23. Lapwai Creek shows a high degree of channel confinement within this segment due to the combined effects of the highway location and steep, narrow valley. From stream km 23 to the mouth, the valley widens but confinement remains an issue due to a series of railroad prisms and dikes restricting access to the floodplain. The Lapwai Creek Watershed lies within Nez Perce and Lewis counties, Idaho as well as within the Nez Perce 1863 Reservation boundary. Several small communities, including Culdesac, Sweetwater, Lapwai and Spalding, are located adjacent to main stem Lapwai Creek. Moderate grazing and irrigation activities were noted below stream km 23 with dryland agriculture prevalent throughout the headwaters.

Figure 1.  Lapwai Creek watershed map.

The watershed encompasses 174,600 acres consisting of non-irrigated cropland (40%), forestlands (27%), and grazing land (13%).  Ownership is a mix of private (86%), tribal (13%), and state (1%).

In contrast to many areas with high agricultural use, where fertile river bottoms provide grazing and farming opportunities, the Lapwai Creek basin is dominated by wooded or forested creek bottoms with agriculture concentrated in the surrounding uplands. This provides a unique set of circumstances which, combined with road placement and forestry practices, contributes to highly degraded aquatic conditions throughout the watershed. In addition to the intrinsic value of the natural resources within this area, concerns with cultural resources, endangered species and tribal traditions factor heavily into management decisions.

Streams within the Lapwai Creek watershed have been severely impacted by numerous anthropogenic stressors over the past century. Non-irrigated cropland is ubiquitous in the uplands surrounding the stream valleys, while grazing and logging activities are prevalent throughout the headwaters and canyons of both watersheds. Paved, gravel and dirt roads constrict many miles of stream throughout the drainages, and create numerous fish passage barriers at those locations where stream channels are crossed. Streams within the watershed and their associated floodplains have been further restricted by levees constructed immediately adjacent to stream channels, and irrigation diversion structures located within the watershed divert all summer flows from significant reaches of several streams.

These activities have resulted in reduced retention of spring precipitation and summer groundwater recharge in many streams throughout the watershed; increased fine sediment input compounded by diminished riparian buffering capability; decreased stream shading; decreased large woody debris recruitment; discharge of livestock waste into streams; channel confinement with diminished habitat complexity, decreased stream bed stability and reduced dissipation of flood-water energy; reduced and/or eliminated stream flows, and multiple fish passage barriers. Many of these stream impacts are further exacerbated, given the geology and elevation of the watersheds, by highly erosive loess soils and frequent rain on snow events. As such, surveys performed from 1982 to 1983 by the Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resource Management (DFRM) found streams within the Lapwai Creek watershed to exhibit extreme annual flow variations (mean summer baseflows frequently falling below 10% of mean annual discharge levels); high summer water temperatures; high levels of sedimentation, cobble embeddedness and bedload; high nutrient and fecal coliform input; and poor quality and quantity salmonid spawning, rearing and over-wintering habitat.

II. Species at Risk

The anadromous stocks include wild A-run steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), fall- run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and recently reintroduced Coho salmon (O. kisutch). The tribe has begun a recovery effort for anadromous lamprey (Lampreta tridentata).

The majority of the Lapwai Creek drainage is federally designated as critical habitat for the Snake River Basin Steelhead DPS. The Snake River Basin Steelhead DPS is a December 2005 continuance of the August 1997 62 FR 43937 ESU (evolutionary significant unit) listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Snake River fall Chinook ESU was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act on December 28, 1993 (58 FR 68543).

A robust data set exists within the watershed that shows steelhead distribution and relative abundance throughout the entire Lapwai Creek drainage. Steelhead habitat requirements, relative to other fish species in the watershed, are fairly specific. Habitat conditions adequate for supporting productive populations of steelhead will help ensure high-quality habitat for other aquatic biota as well; in this way, they may be considered an indicator species.

Oral histories of the Nez Perce Tribe and local residents refer to the regions once significant salmon runs. Like many anadromous streams in the Columbia River Basin, populations of anadromous fish species have declined significantly from historic levels. Stories told of this area describe fish so thick within Sweetwater Creek that children caught them in gunnysacks and men didn't have to travel to the Clearwater because they could catch enough fish for their families in Lapwai Creek. Traditions of harvesting salmon, suckers (Catostomus spp.) and resident fish are discussed in Salmon and His People (1999), a written history of the Nimiipu's interaction with fisheries resources throughout time.

A 2006 Biological Opinion issued by NOAA Fisheries states that the steelhead population utilizing Sweetwater Creek, a Lapwai Creek tributary with a historically high volume of cool spring-fed flow, was likely a significant and unique or source population for the Clearwater basin during times of low flows in the years prior to Sweetwater Creek irrigation diversions. Irrigation diversions notwithstanding, comparisons of electrofishing data sets for the Lapwai Creek and Potlatch River basins reveal that juvenile steelhead capture densities observed within the Lapwai Creek (Chandler, C.A., and Parot, R. J. 2006, Chandler C. A. 2006) watershed in 2003 and 2004 were as high as or higher than those noted within concurrent and comparable electrofishing surveys of the nearby Potlatch River basin (Bowersox, B. and Brindza, N. 2006). The Technical Recovery Team for this area recognizes that within the Snake River Basin, the Lower Clearwater River and its tributaries are among the few areas with predominantly wild fish production and limited hatchery influence (2006 NOAA LOID/BOR BiOp).

Significantly, wild steelhead of the Lower Clearwater basin have seemingly adapted to survive abnormally warm water temperatures. High juvenile steelhead densities have been recorded within monitoring sites in which summer water temperatures exceeded 20º C (68º F) on a daily basis while low densities have been found within the boundaries of a Lapwai Creek monitoring site in which water temperatures as high as 31.8º C (89.2º F) were recorded. In light of current global climate forecasts, a robust population of steelhead possessing the ability to survive such adverse water temperatures would ostensibly be of great importance to the region.

III. Limiting Factors and Justification for Restoration Activities

This proposal focuses habitat restoration actions on the primary limiting factors impacting steelhead.  Limiting factors were identified in the Lapwai Creek Ecological Restoration Strategy (Lapwai Strategy) and include flow, temperature, habitat diversity, sedimentation, water quality, and passage.   Habitat restoration measures proposed in this project focus on the limiting factors developed during the 2012 FCPRS BiOp Expert Panel process and are consistent with those in the Lapwai Strategy.  The following is a brief discussion of the limiting factors developed from the Expert Panel process, the  Lapwai Strategy, and from the NOAA Draft Recovery Plan for Idaho Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook and Steelhead Populations: 

1. High Water Temperature

Land use practices in the watersheds have contributed to water temperature elevations. Riparian canopies have been significantly reduced through removal of woody vegetation. This limiting factor is especially important to fish in the incubation and rearing stages, and during low summer flows.

Thermally impaired conditions have been observed throughout most streams of the Lapwai Creek watershed during the months of July and August. Daily maximum temperatures in many of the stream reaches populated by juvenile steelhead have been recorded in excess of 20º C for numerous consecutive weeks with daily maximum temperatures exceeding 23º C recorded for periods of several consecutive days (Chandler and Parot, 2003; Chandler, 2004; Chandler, 2005).

During the 2003 survey season, the NPT Monitoring and Evaluation project found that the EPA- recommended seven day average daily (7DADM) maximum limit of 16°C was exceeded throughout 75% of sites surveyed within the Lapwai Creek drainage. All 16 sites sampled within the Lapwai Creek watershed exceeded the 7DADM maximum in 2004, while 14 out of 16 sites failed to meet the EPA criteria in 2005.

Salmonid species are particularly temperature-sensitive during the juvenile life-stage. A 16°C maximum seven day average daily maximum (7DADM) is recommended through US Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 guidance for juvenile salmonids in a core rearing area (EPA 1996). Regional adaptations of a National Marine Fisheries Service watershed condition matrix utilized by local U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Offices have classified temperatures above 17.8 °C 7DADM as poor quality juvenile salmonid rearing habitat (BLM et. al 1998, NMFS 1995). Observations have been made, however, of juvenile steelhead and Chinook salmon that remained healthy within an Idaho stream that attained daily maximum temperatures of 24 °C for brief periods of the day, but had low evening temperatures of 8-12 °C. (Bjornn and Reiser, 1991).

High summer water temperatures may result from increased stream width-depth ratios, diminished rheic baseflow due to water withdrawals, reduced groundwater recharge, or unstable channel conditions. These temperatures may also result from reduced canopy cover due to levee development, road prism encroachment, and agricultural and silvicultural activity. Elevated summer water temperatures tend to concentrate the distribution of juvenile steelhead to stream reaches benefiting from spring, groundwater, or hyporheic recharge, thereby reducing ‘available’ habitat to a fraction of the watershed’s habitat potential.

Canopy cover provided from intact riparian communities intercepts and diffuses solar insolation, moderating thermal shifts from radiant heat. Data from 2003 and 2004 NPT distribution surveys indicate that canopy cover throughout the four primary streams of the Lapwai Creek watershed varied from as little as 5% in sections of Mission and Lapwai Creeks, to as high as 97% in upper Sweetwater Creek. These extremes were reflected in stream averages as well, with Mission and Lapwai Creeks having moderately low canopy cover values on average as well, while canopy cover on Sweetwater and Webb Creeks was generally more intact.

2. Migration Barriers

Barriers impair access to crucial areas of aquatic habitat and affect the rearing and survival of focal species. This limiting factor is critical for spawning, rearing and migration.

Fish passage, or the ability of fish to access quality habitat, is of concern within the Lapwai Creek watershed because of the high levels of infrastructure within 300 feet of the stream. The abundance of roads, railroad prisms, dikes and levees has resulted in barriers to fish passage for both adults and juveniles; some are ephemeral or seasonal, while others are year-round or otherwise permanent barriers.

In 2004, the NPT conducted a survey of passage barriers within the Lapwai Creek watershed and found barriers to passage on the mainstems of Lapwai, Mission and Sweetwater Creeks, three of the four major streams in the watershed8. While Webb Creek lacked any mainstem diversions, a natural barrier measuring 12m in height is present at stream km 14.8, effectively blocking steelhead passage (Taylor, E.E., 2004). While natural barriers, including debris jams, waterfalls and excessively high water velocities, can be insurmountable to fish at certain times, many salmonids can navigate past them, given suitable depths at the foot of barriers (Bjornn and Reiser, 1991).

For proper function, all man-made barriers to fish passage should be addressed to provide passage for all life stages of all species at a minimum of 100-year flood event flows (NPT DFRM Strategic Management Plan, 2007, draft). Man-made barriers such as dams, culverts or other diversions may require fish-specific modifications to enable passage; optimally, bridges would be used in place of in-stream modifications (Bjornn and Reiser, 1991).

3. Excess Sediment

The amount of fine sediment present in, or passing through, a stream reach effects the relative survival or performance of fish species. This limiting factor is important during spawning, incubation and rearing.

Waters with high concentrations of suspended sediments result in high levels of turbidity, which can delay migration. Excessive amounts of sediment can embed free matrix cobble and gravel, reducing the amount of available spawning substrate. Additionally, sedimentation in areas where redds have been created can cause suffocation of eggs prior to emergence and reduce available interstitial substrate space for juvenile cover. Natural events, such as landslides or wildfires can contribute to high turbidity, as can unnatural and man-made events, such as poor road placement, logging or trans-basin diversion. Although data regarding total suspended solids and turbidity is spatially and temporally inconsistent within the basin, surveys performed by the NPT in 2003 and 2006 indicated moderate to severe impairment of bank stability throughout all 16 sites over both sample years. This is likely to contribute to the overall levels of turbidity and suspended solids.

While a small amount of cobble embeddedness data has been compiled throughout the Lapwai Creek watershed, the physical parameters required in order to collect acceptable cobble embeddedness samples are very narrow, resulting in a 50% survey rate of sites in 2003 by the NPT and a 56% survey rate in 2006. In 2003, of the sites surveyed, 62.5% showed highly impaired conditions and 25% showed moderate impairment. In 2006, 57% indicated high impairment and an additional 29% were considered moderately impaired. A complete description of methods and results are available by request from the NPT.

Juvenile salmonids tend to avoid streams with regular high turbidity, which can disrupt feeding and territorial behavior. Typically, juvenile fish are not significantly impacted by low or infrequent levels of turbidity, such as those that occur following a storm event. Favorable turbidity levels for juvenile salmonids are < 50 NTU for newly emerged fry and <60 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) for older fry and parr (Bjornn and Reiser, 1991). 

4. Degraded Riparian Conditions

Cover and productivity are important at all life stages, emergent fry to spawning adults require cover in different forms to avoid predation and conserve energy otherwise expended in undeflected stream flow. Many of the same aspects that offer cover, such as undercut banks; large woody debris; streamside vegetation; rocks and logs, also act as sources of organic input critical to primary and secondary productivity. Streams lacking instream cover may show a decreased number of pools, decreased depth and surface area, increased velocity and decreased fish biomass (Bjornn and Reiser, 1991). Data from the 2003 and 2004 NPT distribution surveys indicate that the four primary streams within the Lapwai Creek watershed showed moderate canopy cover throughout

Assuming that LWD is part of a stream's functional background, a lack of LWD as a result of reduced riparian density may lead to decreased productivity in a stream (Bjornn and Reiser, 1991). Within the Lapwai Creek watershed, a lack of intact riparian vegetation leads not only to reduced primary production, cover and solar insulation, but reduces LWD recruitment and subsequent channel roughness. Across the 16 sites surveyed by the NPT, over half (56%) lacked woody input large enough to be characterized as LWD in 2003. In 2006, approximately 32% of the surveyed sites lacked LWD, indicating low recruitment.

5. Reduced Habitat Complexity and Channel Morphology

Physical habitat attributes within a stream reach effect relative fish survival or performance. This limiting factor is important for all life stages throughout the year, but especially critical for newly hatched and rearing salmonids.

Essentially, species living within diverse habitat have a greater chance to survive and flourish (Mt. Hood Aquatic Assessment, 2006). Habitat needs vary greatly by life-stage, daily activity (feeding, resting, hiding), seasonal activity (actively metabolizing vs. overwintering), and hydrologic condition (baseflow vs. high flow event). Habitat diversity, largely a function of gradient, channel confinement, riparian function and large woody debris, is a limiting factor in most of the Lapwai drainage reaches. Several of the reach lengths are highly confined by railroad prisms, Highway 95, or other roads. In these reaches, confinement has resulted in decreased complexity, including the following: decreased sinuosity leading toward increased gradient and uniform bedload; reduced riparian width and density which leads to decreased thermal insulation, cover and organic input, as well as reducing large woody debris recruitment. Additionally, because of some land use practices, many of the Lapwai Creek drainage reaches are currently disconnected from their floodplain, resulting in habitat diminished both in quality and size.  The flashy hydrograph of the Lapwai Creek watershed has led to increased stream energy, while the ability of the channel to make natural adjustments has diminished due to levees and other flood control measures. As a result, processes of meander formation through scour and deposition no longer function to form series of pools and riffles. Instead, bedload becomes deposited uniformly throughout the channel, creating uniform bed topography that is higher than the water table in late summer. In the case of reduced or altered flow, fish will tend to use pools primarily, followed by runs and then riffles (Bjornn and Reiser, 1991). Stable pools cannot form in many segments of the Lapwai Creek drainage due to confinement of the channel within relatively straight stream banks reinforced for flood control. Floodplain restoration is a crucial element necessary to reestablish geomorphic processes that create and maintain pools. The importance of pools in the Lapwai Creek watershed is great due increased frequency of drought conditions where pools are the only portions of the stream that remain below the water table.

Habitat availability is the amount of space a salmonid species will occupy and is determined by habitat diversity and quality, food availability, suitability of substrate for spawning, and presence, size and behavior of nearby species. Fish densities within a stream are not uniform, but rather increase and decrease relative to the above parameters. During the summer months, when reduced flow and high temperatures limit fish access to and availability of adequate cool water refugia, pool structures are critical. Surveys of habitat diversity throughout the four primary streams within the Lapwai Creek watershed were conducted in 2003 and 2004 by the Tribe. Overall, rates of pool habitat were fairly low throughout, indicating reduced cover and cool refugia for salmonids:

6. Flow

The amount of stream flow, or the pattern and extent of flow fluctuations within the stream reach effects the relative survival or performance of salmonids. Flow reductions or dewatering due to water withdrawals will be included as part of this attribute. This limiting factor can affect all life stages throughout the year.

All streams in the Lapwai basin appear to have been affected by severely altered flow regimes. Hydrologic profiles for this watershed are characterized by low duration, high intensity spring flow events and exceptionally low summer base flow levels. Rheic flow values recorded near the mouth of Lapwai Creek ranged from 1,420 cfs to 1.2 cfs within a six-month period in the first year of habitat monitoring by the Tribe. Discharge data recorded near the mouth of Lapwai Creek from 1975 to 2008 indicates summer base flows have diminished significantly in the last 30 years.

Regional hydrology is thought to have shifted from moderated spring and summer flows derived from prolonged snowmelt periods which peaked in May or June, to the current pattern of intense spring runoff and diminished summer flow produced by rain and snow driven systems which typically peak in March or April. The cause of this shift is likely due to multiple factors, beginning with warmer winters and accelerated snowmelt profiles due to agriculture and forestry practices. High spring flows have been further exacerbated by diminished wetland and riparian vegetation area, increased impervious surface area, an increased drainage network (ditching, roads, culverts), stream channelization and reduced floodplain storage, agricultural activities and timber harvest. These same factors also reduce groundwater recharge, which further diminishes low summer base flow. Summer discharge has also been reduced throughout a number of streams by irrigation withdrawals and domestic water use, while rheic base flow has been further diminished, or lost in many areas due to severe bedload deposition incurred during the intense spring-flow events.

With spring events that provide both periods of extremely high flow (exceeding that preferred for salmonid migration) and greatly diminished flow (below that preferred for salmonid migration), the abrupt hydrology within this watershed can decrease the duration of ‘trigger’ flow for both adult and juvenile migration while potentially dewatering redds located outside of the stream thalweg.

No less important, altered flow regimes are inexorably linked to many of the other limiting factors within this watershed, particularly temperature, habitat complexity, and sedimentation. Summer water temperature, as well as habitat complexity, is affected not only by decreased summer flows, but by channel conditions incurred through extremely high spring flows. Likewise, fine sediment recruitment may increase not only directly through higher spring flows, but through increased shear stresses found under high flow conditions (Rosgen, 1996). Temperature and habitat complexity are also impacted through sustained reductions in base flow incurred through withdrawal of stream flows for irrigation and domestic use, most significantly, those flows diverted from Webb and Sweetwater Creek by the Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District (LOID) for residential irrigation and domestic use.

The Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District (LOID) removes a significant amount of flow from the Lapwai Creek basin via a network of Bureau of Reclamation diversions and canals for residential irrigation and domestic use. The NPT is working closely with LOID and the Bureau of Reclamation to develop Sweetwater and Webb Creek in-stream flow requirements for a NOAA Fisheries Biological Opinion on LOID actions.

2008 FCRPS BiOp

The 2008 FCRPS BiOp details a multi-year plan extending until 2018 for habitat improvements aimed at steelhead.  The Council is providing a 5 year recommendation (FY13 - 18) for habitat projects at this time.  RPA Action 35 of the BiOp requires the Action Agencies to convene expert panels to evaluate the percent change in overall habitat quality at the population scale from projects implemented previously and projects proposed for implementation.  The Expert panel effort in 2012 was designed to estimated habitat quality improvements to be achieved by 2018 including estimating the "current" status of habitat limiting factors in an assessment unit/watershed, identify specific habitat actions that will directly or indirectly address the habitat limiting factor, and estimating the "potential" status of habitat limiting factors as a percent of optimal condition that should result if the habitat action is implemented.  Limiting factors were updated during the 2012 FCPRS BiOp Expert Panel process using NOAA's newly developed standardized terminology.  The expert panel included staff from the NPT, NPSWCD, and Idaho Department of Fish and Game.  The results of this exercise identified the following as limiting the physical habitat for Snake River Steelhead in the Lapwai Creek watershed.

IV. PROPOSED Actions to address Limiting Factors

This project will improve riparian condition, improve bed and channel form, improve structural complexity, decrease sediment quantity, decrease water temperature, decrease spring flows, and increase base flows. 

Benchmark conditions

Projects outlined for implementation through this proposal will meet identified benchmark and management criteria.  Criteria are based on the NOAA Matrix of Pathways and Indicators (NOAA, 1996) and includes:

Project Prioritization and Selection Process

 The Lapwai Creek Ecological Restoration Strategy (Lapwai Strategy) is used by both the NPT and NPSWCD to direct watershed restoration work.  Coordination between the NPT and NPSWCD occurs through monthly meetings.

 Project development is a multi-year process with different phases: project area selection, development of a conservation management plan, permitting/design, implementation, monitoring and maintenance.  Because these phases may occur simultaneously within a given year, work may be conducted in multiple geographic priority areas within the watershed. 

 All potential projects shall be ranked on the following:

• Work will occur within areas of perennial flow first with primary focus on mainstem channels and major tributaries first, later moving to intermittent tributaries.
• Ranked priority of assessment units (AU) (table AU1 and figure AU2) will be used to direct limited funding.  In the event that multiple restoration opportunities arise, projects will be developed for the higher ranking AU first.
• Restoration efforts will be initially focused in the top 3 priority areas (years 2009 through 2019); once high priority projects have been addressed in these AUs, efforts will be refocused toward the second and then third highest priority areas. 

Assessment Unit (AU) Geographic Areas

The watershed is divided into ten geographic subunits referred to as assessment units (figure 2).  Two of these assessment units, Webb Creek 3 and Lapwai Creek 4,  were not considered in the restoration strategy as they are above reservoirs and do not provide anadromous fish habitat. The divisions were made based upon shifts in juvenile steelhead densities (Lapwai Strategy, 2009, page 51).   The assessment units were prioritized as follows:

Table AU1. Assessment Unit Priority Ranking

                                                                                        Figure AU2. Assessment Unit Location Map

Stream segments within the AUs were assigned a rating of poor, fair, good or excellent based on a set of criteria evaluated during the development of the Lapwai Strategy (Figure LC1, LC2, SC1).  The goal of the restoration activities selected is to treat streams such that 90% of the stream reaches identified as poor and fair may achieve a rating of good to excellent. 

Figure LC1.  LC1 stream condition ratings

Figure LC2. LC2 stream condition ratings

Figure SC1.  SC1 stream condition ratings

Although this project is not a large habitat project, the NPSWCD utilizes the identify and select project work element (114) to rank projects.  The NPSWCD uses a variety of outreach techniques to build landowner support and interest in restoration activities.  The goal of the outreach is to obtain voluntary landowner participation in the project.  A brief summary of this process follows:

Solicitation

Potential project participants are solicited through outreach efforts outlined in the Lapwai Creek Marketing Strategy (NPSWCD, 2012). In general, landowners and land managers within priority areas are contacted through public meetings, direct mailings, announcements in newspapers and direct solicitation by project staff and NPSWCD board members.  The NPSWCD maintains a mailing list for watershed stakeholders.  This mailing list is used for project solicitation purposes.

Project applications are processed utilizing the Resource Assistance Process protocol (NPSWCD, 2010).  Since the project’s inception in 2002, the NPSWCD has received 357 project applications for work in the Lapwai Creek watershed.  The NPSWCD tracks and manages applications and resulting projects with a specialized database.

Review and Selection

The project application list is reviewed quarterly and ranked on an annual basis.  Throughout the year, project staff evaluate the applications and make a preliminary eligibility determination (Figure F) to ensure that the applicant is the appropriate decision maker and that the requested project actions relate to treatment needs identified in the Lapwai Strategy.  A project ranking sheet (figure R1, R2) is completed for potential projects. Project staff complete site visits and prepare an initial project description. Project staff consult with resource professionals as needed. The individual ranking scores are compiled into a worksheet. The project ranking sheet was developed based on criteria listed in the Lapwai Strategy and includes input from landowners, local resource professionals, and the NPSWCD Board of Directors. The ranking sheet went through a public review process and was formally adopted by the NPSWCD at their May 2010 public meeting.

Figure F.  Logic path.

Figure R1, R2 Lapwai Creek ranking sheet.

Figure F2.  Process from application to installation flowchart.

The NPSWCD Board of directors reviews the ranking results and approves the list for project development and funding.  Projects are implemented in the prioritized order within the constraints of staffing and budget.  When the costs of prioritized installation measures exceed the available budget, NPSWCD seeks supplemental funding, and if none are available, the amount of work is scoped to fit within the constraints of available resources which results in a longer implementation timeframe.  Figure F2 illustrates the steps an individual project follows from project selection to implementation.

The 2014-2018 project list was ranked and adopted by the NPSWCD Board of directors at their February 15, 2013 public meeting. 

Project Objectives and Deliverables

Projects selected for installation in the 2014-2018 timeframe include ongoing restoration measures from the previous project period, new sites for implementation, and several planning projects.  The following objectives and deliverables were developed for implementation through this project proposal:

Objective 1 – Reduce Stream Temperatures

Objective 2 – Improve Aquatic Habitat Diversity and Complexity

Objective 3 – Reduce Instream Sediment

Deliverable 1 – Improve riparian condition - 4 miles riparian restoration. 

Deliverable 2 – Reduce Streambank Erosion - 1.1 miles plan development; 800 LF streambank protection.

Deliverable 3 – Reduce Road Associated Sediment Delivery to the Stream - 1.5 miles road improvements; 5.0 road miles planned and designed.

Deliverable 4 – Reduce sediment delivery to streams from uplands - 120 acres upland treatment. 

Deliverable 5 – Remove or retrofit fish barriers – remove 3 barriers restoring 1.25 miles of access.

Deliverable 6 – Restore Floodplain Access and Reconnect Channel - complete 7.6 miles of floodplain analysis; restore aquatic habitat suitability to 1,200 feet of stream channel.

Deliverable 7 – Improve watershed hydrology - Install 1.5 acres wetland enhancements, 40 acres upland grass/forb planting, and 60 acres upland tree planting.

V. Proposed Monitoring Plan

The NPSWCD plans to complete implementation and compliance (I&C) monitoring for installed habitat restoration measures. I&C monitoring will be reported through PISCES, StreamNet and other web-based data sharing sites as appropriate.  I&C monitoring will utilize standardized protocols and include items such as photo points, thermographs, and turbidity measurements.  Post-treatment implementation monitoring will be conducted on restoration activities in order to assess project function over time and provide adaptive management feedback loops to project implementers as recommended by ISRP (ISRP 2007-1).  The NPSWCD plans to coordinate with the NPT and project managers in the Asotin Creek and Potlatch River watersheds in order to develop consistent I&C methods.

Additional monitoring within the watershed is conducted by the NPT and is not included within the scope of this project proposal.  However data obtained from the NPT monitoring efforts is utilized by the NPSWCD for adaptive management purposes and to set biological objectives.  The NPSWCD will coordinate with the NPT on their Watershed M&E plan as outlined below.  The following text was obtained from the NPT and describes the NPT watershed m&e activities.

NPT Monitoring Plan

In an effort to provide clear and consistent direction for monitoring and evaluation of all NPT Watershed projects, and transparency of same to the NPPC, ISRP and BPA, the NPT Watershed Division is currently developing the "NPT DFRM Watershed Division, Tributary Habitat Programmatic Monitoring and Evaluation Plan" (Watershed M&E Plan). This effort is intended to further develop the Watershed Division M&E program in the interest of providing clear and consistent monitoring results to allow optimal prioritization and adaptive management of restoration actions, while facilitating coordination and standardization with regional monitoring programs. This effort aligns with previous ISRP comments (ISRP 2011-25, ISRP 2007-1) and the NPPC 2009 Columbia River Fish and Wildlife Program (NPPC 2009-09).  This plan is being developed in collaboration with, and under the guidance of Dr. Phil Roni and staff of the NOAA Fisheries Service Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC).  The development of the NPT Watershed M&E plan began in December 2012 and is scheduled to be submitted to the NPCC and BPA by the summer of 2013 for review with final completion anticipated by December of 2013.  While many of the details have yet to be developed, key elements of the NPT Watershed M&E Plan Framework include the following: 

A. Implementation and Compliance Monitoring (I & C)

Implementation and Compliance (I&C) monitoring will be performed for all restoration projects implemented by the NPT Watershed Division. The most fundamental I&C monitoring will be addressed through standardized descriptions of implementation accomplishments provided within status reports submitted to Pisces. Pisces is a web-interface software tool developed to enable efficient management of BPA's Fish and Wildlife Program, and is utilized by the all NPT Watershed Division restoration projects funded by BPA.

Post-treatment implementation monitoring will be conducted on all restoration activities to assess project function over time and provide adaptive management feedback loops to project implementers as recommended by ISRP (ISRP 2007-1). While this low cost, low intensity monitoring may require observations to be made over the course of several years, it is not intended to track watershed conditions over time as in Status and Trend monitoring, nor establish inferential relationships between management actions and fish production or aquatic habitat conditions as with Action Effectiveness monitoring. The ISRP, in its 2007 Retrospective Report (ISRP 2008-4), emphasize that project sponsors include some form of monitoring to show evidence of a beneficial habitat trend; inferring that passive restoration techniques such as fencing may be tracked through monitoring tools as simple as photo points. The NPT Watershed Division will develop standardized implementation monitoring protocols and reporting forms to evaluate the fundamental success of implementation techniques (e.g. survival of riparian plantings) and provide an important feedback loop in an effort to always be improving the success of all our on-the-ground projects.  

B. Action Effectiveness Monitoring

Action effectiveness monitoring will be tiered to BPA's "Action Effectiveness Monitoring of Tributary Habitat Improvement: a programmatic approach for the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program" (Roni et al. 2013).  The framework for this program, which has been submitted to the NPPC and ISAB/ISRP for review and recently released to project sponsors, is to develop a consistent, rigorous and cost-effective approach for evaluation of habitat actions implemented under the Council's Fish and Wildlife Program.  

The draft outline of this program identifies categories of implementation actions that will be monitored through programmatic action effectiveness methodology as well as those which will be monitored on a case study basis. The majority of actions subject to programmatic monitoring has been, and will continue to be, implemented by the NPT Watershed Division. As the BPA programmatic action effectiveness approach provides sponsors the option of assisting in data collection or deferring to a third party, the Watershed Division plans to assist in data collection for projects selected within our program.

C. Status and Trend Monitoring

Habitat status and trend monitoring in Lapwai is not scheduled to occur until 2019 according to Lapwai Strategy.  The Nez Perce Tribe Watershed Division is currently scheduled to begin implementation of CHaMP surveys in the Lolo Creek and South Fork Clearwater River watersheds in 2014. In addition to the probabilistically located sites identified through the GRTS study design, CHaMP surveys will also be conducted for three years at a number of legacy sites located within the Lolo Creek and South Fork Clearwater River watersheds. These surveys, conducted concurrent to legacy monitoring, will attempt to provide a data crosswalk between twenty years of legacy data and future CHaMP results. Efficacy of CHaMP to legacy data crosswalks will be assessed at such time that status and trend data is updated for the Lower Clearwater River subbasin; based on these assessments, appropriate actions will be taken to either consolidate legacy and CHaMP surveys or proceed solely with the collection of CHaMP data throughout the Lower Clearwater.

Biological status and trend monitoring is currently being conducted by BOR, in coordination with NPT DFRM Research (ISEMP). BOR is required through NOAA BiOP 2010 LOP to assess O. mykiss abundance and impacts of LOP on O. mykiss population within the area of impact, Sweetwater Creek, Mission Creek,  and Lapwai Creek downstream of the confluence with Sweetwater Creek.  High flow events the past three seasons have limited the detection success of PIT tag arrays.  Initial impacts of BOR to the O. mykiss population have yet to be determined.

D. Adaptive Management

Ultimately the most important section, an adaptive management strategy will be developed to provide clear pathways and ties to guide the flow of M&E results back to project managers for all monitoring efforts previously described.  While monitoring is recognized as an important part of adaptive management (NPCC 2010), the ISRP recognizes that project sponsors claim use of adaptive management but rarely provide a design to determine whether objectives are being met or the decision tree used to modify management direction. The intention of this section will be to provide a transparent methodology to establish thresholds for assessing project and program success; identify mechanisms necessary to guide alternative strategies, reassess goals, and reconfigure priorities if needed (ISRP 2008-4); and build adaptive capacity where learned results are used to adaptively adjust actions (ISAB 2011-4). 

E. Data Management and Storage

Raw data will be stored in a spatial database while selected data will be viewable with two supported map services, ArcGIS Map Services and IT Nexus Viewer Mapping. This section will also provide details on the Watershed Division's database organization, security, maintenance, and metadata requirements.

F. Reporting and Information Dissemination

This section will provide details on the Watershed Division's current and recurring reporting processes as well as future plans to disseminate information to the public, internal users, and other interested organizations.

VI. Organization Description

 The Nez Perce Soil and Conservation District (NPSWCD) is a governmental subdivision of Idaho State, and a public body corporate and politic, authorized to exercise public powers. The governing body of the Nez Perce SWCD is a board of seven supervisors who are elected by the general public and serve without pay. Soil conservation districts, as governmental subdivisions of the state of Idaho and the Idaho Soil and Water Conservation Commission (ISCC) as a state agency, are the primary entities to provide assistance to private landowners and land users in the conservation, sustainment, improvement, and enhancement of Idaho’s natural resources (Idaho Code 2202716(3)(c). The NPSWCD has extensive experience administering and managing conservation programs.  NPSWCD has successfully secured and managed over 40 conservation projects worth approximately $8.5 million over the past 10 years.