Update for CCR-44515: Implementation of on-the-ground work was canceled for the 2020 field season due to planning and permitting delays caused by Covid-19 work schedule disruptions. Implementation work for the Panther Creek meadow project will be postponed to 2021. Work in the current contract for 2020 will be redirected towards planning and permitting for field work through 2024.

The SRHE project will continue to focus on habitat restoration work within the Panther Creek basin for the 2020 field season. Panther Creek is part of the Middle Salmon-Panther Subbasin, consisting of four watersheds and encompassing approximately 1370 km2. As a large tributary to the Salmon River, it represents an important spawning and rearing tributary for Chinook salmon and steelhead trout; however, due to past land management activities such as timber harvest, mining, cattle grazing, water diversions, and wildfire suppression, much of this habitat has been substantially degraded. The main channel of Panther Creek has low habitat complexity and diversity in areas critical to the survival of rearing juvenile steelhead and Chinook following the emergence from gravel during spring. Other limiting factors include high summer stream temperatures, lack of habitat quantity and quality,  reduced riparian vegetation abundance, and reduced water and sediment quality as a result of past mining activity. Currently, these conditions limit the distribution and abundance of ESA-listed anadromous fish in Panther Creek. Much of the basin is USFS land and is designated as a priority watershed under the 1995 Salmon-Challis National Forest Plan. The USFS will be a planning and implementation partner in restoration work conducted in this basin.

Restoration work in Panther Creek is approached with two primary goals. The first is to restore habitat complexity in sections of Panther Creek and its tributaries in order to increase juvenile steelhead and Chinook habitat quality and quantity. The second goal is to restore and sustain a sufficient abundance of salmon and steelhead for harvest by Tribal members in fulfillment of guarantees established in the 1868 Fort Bridger Treaty. To achieve the first goal, we will build on the riverscapes assessment developed in previous contracts, and finalized in February 2019, to document and describe current habitat conditions, geomorphic conditions and constraints, current landscape context, and to identify reaches and methods for habitat restoration. Design and implementation of restoration projects began in the FY19 contract and will continue in this FY20 contract. Project locations and designs are identified and prioritized according to restoration needs described in the Panther Creek riverscapes assessment.

Potential projects to be implemented in the Panther Creek basin include replacing culverts, installing Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA’s) and/or Post Assisted Log Structures (PALS) to enhance hydrologic, geomorphic and riparian processes to the benefit of Chinook and steelhead populations, and identifying other opportunities to improve floodplain connection. Culvert replacements in some of the tributaries to Panther Creek would address velocity and height barriers for anadromous fish. BDA’s and PALS would address the need for deep pool and pond habitat, and increase surface water storage. These elements provide deep water refugia, increase the frequencies of riffle habitat and abundance of suitable spawning gravels, help reconnect floodplains, increase water storage/recharge of shallow alluvial aquifers, and provide thermal refugia during high summer temperatures.  

Project work for the 2020 season will focus on Upper Panther Creek Meadow. The project area is located within a partly confined beaver meadow reach type that is in moderate condition and has been identified as a Tier 1 restoration priority in the Panther Creek Riverscapes Conceptual Restoration Plan (Hill et al., 2019). The site was identified as a high restoration priority because of the high potential for lateral adjustment due to available floodplain, and the moderate condition, which could significantly improve in a short timeframe. The project design includes the strategic placement of complexes (groupings of structures) and individual structures of Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs), Post Assisted Log Structures (PALS), wood jams and spanners in the Panther Creek channel. The project is described in detail in the Upper Panther Creek Meadow Project Description, developed in February 2020 and attached to this contract.

Hill, A., Bouwes, B., Bennett, S., Shahverdian, S., Wheaton, J., and N. Bouwes. 2019. Panther Creek Riverscapes Assessment. Prepared for The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Fish and Wildlife Department. Fort Hall, Idaho.