The SRHE project will continue to focus on habitat restoration work within the Panther Creek basin for the 2022 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 Panther Creek 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 (the assessment is attached to this project under contract 77111 Rel 9). Design and implementation of restoration projects began in the FY19 contract and will continue in this FY22 contract.

Project locations and recommendations are identified and prioritized according to restoration needs described in the Panther Creek Conceptual Restoration Plan (also attached to this project under contract 77111 Rel 9). This plan builds on the 2019 Panther Creek Riverscapes Assessment, which analyzed reach types in the basin using existing stream habitat surveys, GIS data, aerial imagery, and field visits to determine valley confinement, gradient, channel planform, and dominant substrate. Current geomorphic and riparian conditions were compared to presumed historic conditions to determine the overall condition of each reach, and reaches were ranked as being in poor, moderate, good or intact condition. Reach type, geomorphic condition, and recovery potential were used to identify 122 restoration reaches
in the Panther Creek drainage. These reaches were prioritized and ranked into the following categories: Conservation, Anthropogenic Barriers, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and No Action. Data on Chinook, steelhead, and bull trout distribution in the Panther Creek drainage were derived from a combination of GIS species distribution layers available from Streamnet and NOAA, along with redd, electrofishing, and eDNA surveys conducted by the SBT and EcoMetrix (2018). Additional details concerning the methods that were employed to produce the prioritization schedule can be found in the Panther Creek Conceptual Restoration Plan (see section 5.2, Methods for Reach-Scale Restoration Prioritization).

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 projects that 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 2022 season will finalize implementation on the Upper Panther Creek Meadow site that was begun in 2021, but that was not completed due to the Mud Lick fire, which began July 26, 2021 and continued through until the end of August. The fire forced the crew to abandon work activities for 2.5 weeks due to the proximity of the fire to the work site and hazardous air quality conditions. The program was only able to install 6 out of 9 total complexes that this project was scheduled to install. We will install the remaining 3 complexes in the 2022 field season.

The Upper Panther Creek Meadow 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.