Approximately six miles of stream habitat on private land on the Yankee Fork Salmon River (YFSR) have been severely altered by dredge -mining (1938-1952), eliminating much of the natural meander pattern of the stream and associated instream habitat, and riparian vegetation and function.  The altered stream corridor consists of unconsolidated and unvegetated dredge tailings, which have increased sedimentation of spawning gravels and rearing pools.  The mainstem YFSR has down-cut, causing upslope instability, also affecting many tributary streams.  The goal of the Yankee Fork Dredge Tailings Restoration Project is to restore natural river channel characteristics, floodplain function, hydraulic and sediment regimes, and aquatic habitat within the dredged reach of the YFSR, initially by redistributing dredge tailings piles from the floodplain.  Restoring the YFSR, historically a major Chinook salmon producer, to natural conditions will create a healthy, functioning riparian community providing numerous benefits to fish and wildlife. Expected outcomes include benefits to anadromous salmonids through a healthy, functioning floodplain and riparian community, an increase in spawning and rearing habitat for salmonids, an increase in instream habitat diversity, and upslope stabilization. The Yankee Fork, one of the larger watersheds within the upper Salmon River, historically was a major salmon producer.  Large stream size, diversity of habitats, availability of low gradient stream channel reaches, aquatic productivity, and a remnant spawning and rearing population, make the Yankee Fork a potential important Chinook drainage within the upper Salmon River subbasin.  Snake River stocks of Chinook salmon have used the Yankee Fork and its tributaries for spawning and rearing long before human settlements entered the watershed.  Every summer the Bannock Tribe would camp at the mouth of Ramey Creek to harvest spawning salmon.  Because of the strong historical populations, habitat capability must have been high to support the different species' life histories.  More recently, Snake River Chinook salmon populations have suffered direct mortality associated with hydropower operations of on the Columbia River and the lower Snake River.  In addition, habitat degradation, introduction of exotic species, hatchery supplementation, and instream flow diversions have induced additive pressures on the population as a whole.  Due to the decline of this species, Snake River spring/summer salmon were listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened on April 22, 1992 (57 FR 42529), and the Yankee Fork is classified as critical habitat (57 FR 14653). Until passage problems are resolved, the resiliency and persistence of remaining wild Chinook salmon stocks will be largely dependent on the quality and diversity of remaining stream habitats.  All remaining populations and habitats for Chinook salmon are critical to the persistence and recovery of this species.  The proposed project is located in an area severely altered by human activity and is degraded to a level that even if mainstem migration impediments were reversed, little habitat would remain to support a viable spawning population of natural Chinook salmon without implementation.
As a result of the extensive dredge mining, a complete re-channeling of lower portions of the Yankee Fork has occurred along with the deposition of extensive unconsolidated dredge piles.  This section of the river has been widened and the channel straightened compared to pre-dredging conditions.  The substrate has been severely altered and is now dominated by boulders and cobbles with few spawning gravels.  The historic floodplain can no longer be accessed and the riparian zone has been severely altered. Following dredge mining, the Yankee Fork road was rebuilt over the dredge tailings.  This road is the primary public thoroughfare to the Yankee Fork drainage, and provides access for popular seasonal recreational activities, and also to the jointly-administered USFS and State of Idaho "Land of the Yankee Fork" State Park and Historical Area established for the interpretation of historic mining in this area of Idaho.  The road also provides access to an on-going large-scale open pit gold mine and to private holdings and residences within the drainage. In accordance with the Fish and Wildlife Program goals, this project will benefit the biological needs of salmon, steelhead, and bull trout and protect other native fish and wildlife species by improving habitat conditions in the Yankee Fork Salmon River.   This project will involve cooperative habitat protection and improvement with private landowners because some of the proposed work area is owned by Simplot, Inc.  These privately owned areas are within the USGS Sunbeam Quadrangle, T11&12N, R15E, in Sections 5, 32, 29, 20, and 17.  This project is addressing the Final Snake River Salmon Recovery Plan, with the cooperation and co-sponsorship of the project among the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, the USDA Forest Service (USFS), State of Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), and Idaho State University (ISU).  Efforts will be coordinated to complement other activities to protect and re-restore important, quality habitat throughout the watershed (primarily USFS lands). This proposed action is supported by the Final Snake River Salmon Recovery Plan; the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River Watershed Assessment; the Upper Salmon River Subbasin Plan; the Watershed Analysis Approaches for Chinook salmon; Yankee Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho; the NMFS biological opinion for Chinook salmon in the Yankee Fork watershed; and the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
This project is currently working on answering questions for the ISRP/BPA; answering these questions successfully and in a timely manner is crucial of the future of the program.  The tribes are working with an engineering firm to get a conceptual rehabilitation plan with LiDar mapping, costs and scheduling for the Yankee Fork Salmon River Dredge Tailings.  Throughout the year, the program manager will continue to meet with other parties securing cost shares to continue the project, this includes contacting and setting up meetings.  Also, working with Idaho State University completing a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan; working in the field, with a graduate student, gather data for the M & E plan and then reporting this plan with the annual report. This baseline data will be used as reference and could then be compared to the monitoring and evaluation plan after the dredge tailings are replaced with a more natural floodplain.  This data will help address a data gap that is currently within the YFSR-- "understanding of how historic mining impacts influenced  aquatic production and altered the aquatic-terrestrial linkages within the Yankee Fork Salmon River Dredge Tailings." When this work is completed it will help us understand of how the physical disruption of river-floodplain complexes, for example, the food-web fluxes that both the aquatic and terrestrial species are capable of benefiting from. To continue the studies on the Yankee Fork, two permits were obtained to conduct a baseline data set for an monitoring and evaluation plan, also, monitor the water quality within the Yankee Fork Salmon River.  These permits will be used to continue the M& E studies and water quality data this contract year.  The focus of this years contract is to acquire a monitoring and evaluation plan, conceptual rehabilitation design of the Yankee Fork Dredge Tailings, and secure costs shares with other agencies.