Overview: The Tucannon River in Southeast Washington flows north out of the Blue Mountains into the Snake River, and is the ancestral boundary between the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Nez Perce Tribe. The Tucannon watershed supports the only remaining population of spring Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the lower Snake River. Early fish estimates show the Tucannon once produced thousands of salmon annually, but now only produces a few hundred adult spring Chinook each year. In 1992, spring Chinook were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act as runs declined to less than 200 adult fish. Given the importance of the Tucannon River to the Snake River Basin, BPA provides funding for a Programmatic Habitat Project in the watershed.

The Tucannon Programmatic Project is managed by the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board (SRSRB) through a parent contract for operational support, organizational management, implementation assistance, and annual reporting. The goal of the Tucannon River programmatic is to restore natural channel processes in the spring Chinook priority restoration reaches of the Tucannon River, leading to improved population productivity and abundance. The CTUIR collaborates in the Programmatic Project, as a project implementer in support of programmatic goals, consistent with the CTUIR River Vision: a desired riverine system that is shaped and maintained by the dynamic interactions and interconnections of its natural physical and ecological processes. The restoration actions proposed for implementation in the prioritized river segments promote and enhance the interconnected nature of the five primary touchstones of the Tribes' Vision: a) hydrology, b) geomorphology, c) connectivity, d) riparian community, and e) aquatic biota.  

Major limiting factors influencing the condition of these touchstones throughout the project reaches proposed for treatment in the watershed, include:  
•    Past land use practices including logging, livestock grazing, irrigated agriculture and construction of the Tucannon Lakes, in addition to recent large forest fires in the headwaters, have created conditions in the Tucannon River that have over-simplified the stream channel and drastically reduced the productivity, abundance and sustainability of the spring Chinook population.  
•    Channel simplification caused by channel confinement (levees, lakes, roads) and straightening (pushing the channel to the valley wall) has led to a loss of floodplain connectivity (channel incision), increased stream velocities, and loss of pool habitat. These factors have combined to decrease quality habitat for adult and juvenile Spring Chinook salmon, steelhead, and Bull Trout, leaving these unique populations at risk.

Background: After several years of opportunistic restoration in the Tucannon Basin as a Model Watershed (1997-2008), the Columbia County Conservation District (CCD) brought all parties to the table to work on a new restoration planning document. The Tucannon River Geomorphic Assessment & Habitat Restoration Study (Anchor QEA, April 2011) identified and prioritized stream reaches and restoration actions which would best improve habitat for salmonids. Refocusing on the high priority areas for spring Chinook, the CCD coordinated the development of a habitat restoration plan that prioritized work from RM-20 upstream to RM-50. After 10 years of implementing the first plan, it became obvious that program managers needed to move further down the watershed and start working in the lower Tucannon River. In 2018, through the Tucannon Programmatic Habitat project, the CCD initiated an update of the Restoration Plan to help refocus restoration efforts and include the rest of the Tucannon River from RM-20 downstream to the confluence of the Snake River.

The Updated Tucannon Conceptual Restoration Plan (Anchor QEA, 2021) prioritizes projects into three Tiers (1-3) based on these prioritization goals: (1) increased complexity at low-winter flows, (2) increased complexity during spring and winter peak flows, (3) reconnection of disconnected and abandoned floodplains, (4) improved quantity and quality of pools, and (5) increased retention and storage of in-channel bedload sediments. Informed and guided by the new prioritization goals, the project implementers in the Tucannon watershed are selecting project areas for habitat restoration actions that focus on increasing habitat complexity and floodplain connection to improve conditions for adult and juvenile Snake River spring Chinook, steelhead and Bull Trout. This refocusing of prioritization goals will ensure Tucannon Implementers are selecting project areas for future restoration actions that are large enough to make a meaningful difference, be cost-effective relative to those benefits, and remain feasible to construct.

Project Area Summary: Project Area (PA) 27/28.1 is located within the active river channel and floodplain of the Tucannon River, on private property from RM-22.2 to RM-23.1. The project was originally identified as a Tier-1 project in the Conceptual Restoration Plan (Anchor QEA, 2011) developed for the Tucannon River. The primary objectives of the project are to increase floodplain connectivity through: removing channel confining features, increasing off-channel and reconnecting side-channel habitats; and improving channel complexity through placement of large wood debris in the form of constructed log jams and single-log wood placements.

Status: (FY2021) Phase I-B: the initial-half of the project originally proposed as Phase-I was completed during the abbreviated Summer 2020 work-period. This second-half of the Phase-I project was in the design process (see contract #73982 REL98); on an accelerated schedule (Dec-Jun), CTUIR project staff worked with the private landowner and design subcontractor into the construction period timeframe, in order to be ready to implement the remainder of the complete Phase-I component of the project during the Summer-Fall (2021) work-period.

CTUIR will lead the implementation management and supervision for: pre-construction tasks, site preparation, materials acquisition, permitting, and design finalization for the second half of Phase-I (0.5-1.0) at PA-27/28.1. Restoration actions proposed for the project area are identified in the Updated Tucannon Conceptual Restoration Plan as a high priority for habitat improvements (Anchor QEA, 2021), and focus on increasing the amount of large wood debris (LWD) to increase channel complexity and floodplain connectivity, the highest priority actions for spring Chinook in the Tucannon. Description of the project areas with respect to existing natural processes and habitat conditions will be provided in the associated project Design Report, along with the specific physical and biological objectives that the proposed restoration features are expected to achieve for each phase of the design/build for the project areas.  

Project Elements (PA-27/28.1): The design focus for the project area is on improving the multiple habitat structure, floodplain connection, and stream function deficiencies associated with this reach of the Tucannon River. Enhancing and restoring instream habitat in this project area will be accomplished through a variety of treatment actions in the main channel, along the banks, and within the floodplain. These design features are intended to benefit spring Chinook by providing better refuge and spawning habitat for adults, reducing redd scour during winter flood events, and increasing rearing habitat and over-winter survivals for juvenile salmonids.

Expected Implementation Actions (from the 60% Design Report): Install ELJs and other additional LWD structures or single-log wood placements in the main channel to increase channel complexity over a 0.87 mile reach. Additional unsecured mobile LWD will be placed in the main channel, side channels and on the floodplain for complexity. Plant adjacent floodplain and riparian areas, and where disturbed, re-vegetate and restore construction access sites and staging areas. Planting efforts will emphasize an increase in pines and cottonwoods throughout the reach for the purpose of future LWD key piece recruitment.

[CCR-46774] Status: (FY2022) Overview: As a broader approach to holistic floodplain restoration, the project has been developed in phases to include: (a) two field-seasons of in-channel stream restoration already completed (Phase I); (b) a proposed irrigation system relocation and efficiency upgrade (Phase II); and (c) the follow-up reconnection of the low-lying floodplain habitat acreage (Phase III) made newly available for restoration once relinquished as an area of agricultural production.
Phase-II: CTUIR contract staff is working with the landowner to forego continued agricultural production in a low-lying floodplain area at PA-27/28, and dedicate the additional acres as a component of the ongoing habitat restoration work in this project area. If the landowner can be supported with improved irrigation efficiencies and infrastructure adjustments that relocate crop production away from areas adjacent to the river, more floodplain acres will be available for subsequent habitat restoration (Phase-III).