The Upper Mainstem Salmon River from the Pahsimeroi River confluence to the headwaters contains ESA Spring/Summer Chinook Salmon and Summer Steelhead returning to the Salmon River basin and Upper Mainstem Salmon. This reach has been identified in NOAA Fisheries Proposed ESA Recovery Plan as having the following limiting factors for listed fish: excess sediment, passage barriers, low summer flows, high water temperatures, lack of in stream complexity, degraded floodplain function, and entrainment.  Habitat/recovery needs for these species includes removing passage barriers, increasing flows, increasing habitat complexity, reducing sedimentation, and preventing entrainment in irrigation ditches.  

The project included in this SOW include completing a culvert removal on Road Creek that is a partial passage barrier during low flows and contributes sediment to Road Creek and the East Fork Salmon River and fencing of a degraded section of lower Road Creek (Work Elements I & J). The Road Creek project  is intended to improve connectivity, reduce sedimentation and decrease water temperatures that currently have limited access to suitable habitat; provide improved in-stream passage of various life stages of salmonids and reduce sedimentation and restore vegetation to the stream bank. Over time the project will facilitate colonization of existing or potential habitat and/or to provide spatial distribution of life stages of salmonids in the watershed. This project ranked 43 in the Tech Team Ranking in May and is a medium ranked project. Additional fish surveys will be completed prior to implementation.

Additionally, it would address vegetative management on the stream below the bridge by, fencing the stream, and restore vegetation to the stream banks. A small horse pasture and stock water can be found immediately below the new bridge construction. This project will assist by fencing off the pasture and Road Creek below the bridge and planting vegetation along Road Creek in that 300-foot reach. Off stream stock-water will need to be developed.
Relevance and Benefits: Custer SWCD proposes to address a passage barrier on Road Creek, a tributary to the East Fork of the Salmon River. According to the 2017 NOAA Fisheries Recovery plan (Sec. 6.3.30 P.298) in the East Fork Salmon River watershed, road culverts create several partial and complete barriers to steelhead passage on Road Creek. According to the NOAA plan, where natural re vegetation is not feasible due to physical or management constraints such as structures or roads, structural stabilization of eroding banks should occur. The focus is to restore riparian processes by planting woody vegetation (especially willow). Stream-side trees and shrubs provide local erosion resistance on the channel boundary (IRA 2021).

Reference: NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) 2017. ESA Recovery Plan for Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) & Snake River Basin Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). NOAA West Coast Region. November 2017. Accessible at: https://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/protected_species/salmon_steelhead/recovery_planning_and_implementation/snake_river/snake_river_sp-su_chinook_steelhead.html

OSC Team (Idaho Governor’s Office of Species Conservation and partners). 2019. Upper Salmon Subbasin Integrated Rehabilitation Assessment. Assessment prepared for and with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. June 2019. Available at https://modelwatershed.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/91/2019/12/Upper_Salmon_IRA_20190620.pd_.pdf.