The Wind River Watershed project is a collaborative effort to restore wild steelhead in the Wind River.  The four agencies forming the nucleus of this partnership include the US Forest Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, USGS Biological Research Division, and Underwood Conservation District.  This partnership was established in the early 1990's and with support from BPA, has continued to conduct important habitat, research, monitoring and coordination activities across the subbasin.  The project works at multiple levels to identify and characterize key limiting habitat factors in the Wind River, to restore degraded habitats and watershed processes, to measure, track and document fish populations, life histories, and interactions, and to share information across agency and non-agency boundaries.

This contract funds continued work to restore habitat conditions within the Wind River watershed.  In FY09, the focus of work under this contract will be to plant riparian areas in the Upper Trout Creek drainage, remove a small obstruction to fish passage in the Trapper Creek drainage, develop designs for providing access and improved habitat in a side channel of Trapper Creek, and continuing work to support the habitat restoration program.