This Upper Beaver Creek fish habitat restoration project is located on Beaver Creek, a tributary to the Methow River in WRIA 48, between approximately River Miles (RMs) 6.2 and 7.0.  The HUC number for Beaver Creek is 1702000807.  The primary work areas are located within Section 35 in Township 34N, Range 22 E. The project area is primarily west of Upper Beaver Creek Road and includes restoration actions on portions of the existing floodplain and the historic floodplain. Actions will also be conducted on the east side of the county road to accommodate changes to the Batie diversion and screen structures. The affected properties are privately held and a landowner willingness agreement has been secured.

Beaver Creek has high potential to provide habitat for listed fish species; however, a series of artificial passage barriers and historic water withdrawals have limited anadromous salmonid access to utilize this potential habitat.  Beaver Creek is a major spawning area with high intrinsic potential for steelhead, and a minor spawning area for Spring Chinook that was considered unoccupied until recently.  Between 2000 and 2004, a series of habitat projects addressed the downstream passage barriers.  Since 2005, spring Chinook have been documented in Beaver Creek by the USGS in the lower RM 3.6.  

The reconstructed channel will improve habitat complexity, sediment dynamics, and remove barriers to lateral channel migration.   Relocating the irrigation diversion will address one of the last anthropogenic fish passage barriers on the stream.  The habitat matrix in the Upper Columbia Recovery Plan (UCSRB 2007) identifies habitat diversity and quantity, sediment, excessive artificial channel stability, water quantity, and obstructions as primary limiting factors in Beaver Creek.

Beaver Creek also supports an isolated bull trout sub-population in Blue Buck Creek, a tributary to Beaver Creek upstream of the project area.  The USGS documented occasional bull trout in lower Beaver Creek.  Addressing this passage barrier and improving habitat will remove barriers between the bull trout sub-population and overwinter habitat in the mainstem Methow River

The Proposed Action will relocate the stream channel within the right floodplain bypassing the existing riprap section of the creek. Average excavation through the proposed alignment is less than 2 feet deep, while the maximum excavation is approximately 6 feet deep. Materials excavated to form the new creek would be used to partially fill the existing creek bed and to build a floodplain berm along the west edge of the existing creek channel (Figure 15 and 16). The upper portion of the existing creek channel would be filled completely to prevent an avulsion back into the existing channel. The remainder of the existing channel would be partially filled, as materials allow, to reduce costs and promote the development of wetland and riparian habitat. A new diversion structure for the Batie Diversion is proposed adjacent to the new channel west of the existing inlet, this requires a new pipe under the county road.

The new channel will laid out to minimize impacts to existing wetlands and mature trees. The proposed alignment is approximately 2,300 feet in length. The new channel meanders around floodplain vegetation in the upper 1,050 to avoid numerous mature trees. The middle 650 feet is comprised primarily of immature deciduous trees, and requires less extensive excavation; therefore, minimal impact to riparian areas will be more easily accomplished. The lower 600 feet is a relatively defined channel and no channel reconstruction is proposed; hence, no construction related impacts to this area would occur.
Instream habitat benefits will include hydraulic complexity, structural complexity, pool development, and deposition of spawning substrate. Relocating the channel will include placement of LWD and the incorporation of meander bends. In addition, the new alignment will hydrologically reconnect several isolated wetlands. Wood placements will provide instream structure, thereby complementing the hydraulic complexity creating near natural conditions. Wood placements are designed to facilitate pool formation in the thalweg. In addition, gravel bars are expected to form as the creek adjusts to the new channel.  Gravel bars and pools associated with wood placement locations will provide spawning areas for anadromous and resident fishes.  The upper 1,050 feet and lower 600 feet would be constructed through a mature floodplain forest that will provide immediate high quality riparian benefits. The middle 650 feet would require extensive revegetation; hence, riparian benefits would improve through time. Moving the creek away from the roadway allows for a mature riparian area to develop over the entire extent of the creek on both banks—a significant improvement over the existing alignment.

The primary goal of the Upper Beaver Habitat Improvement Project is to increase habitat complexity to support rearing, spawning, and migration habitat for steelhead in Beaver Creek.  The project will also benefit migrating bull trout.  
Project objectives to be met within the grant period include the following:
• Increase instream habitat complexity by constructing 2300 feet of new meandering stream channel to replace an 1160 foot long straightened and channelized segment.  
• Reconnect the stream with its floodplain upon project completion resulting in closer interaction with its riparian area.  
• Place large wood within the new channel to provide habitat complexity for rearing juvenile steelhead and other fish.  
• Relocate and replace the Batie diversion with a new diversion that meets all state and federal criteria for fish passage, screening, and fish return without requiring in-water maintenance.