Fish habitat in the Yankee Fork River has been drastically altered as a result of historical land use in the Yankee Fork drainage, particularly where dredge mining occurred.  Dredging occurred intermittently between 1940 and 1952 and obliterated the Yankee Fork stream channel, eliminating or substantially reducing the floodplain.  The new channel that formed was often trapped between dredge tailings and the valley hillside, where it was unable to re-establish a natural meander pattern. Further, flood-flows contained between the hillside and dredge tailings resulted in increased stream energy, which mobilized spawning gravels and wood out of the reach. The inability for this area to naturally recover has also been exacerbated by past removal of trees from the landscape, especially the riparian areas.  

Over the past several years, partner agencies and conservation groups that make up the Yankee Fork ID Team (i.e., Trout Unlimited, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, BPA) have partnered to implement several projects (e.g,. Bonanza Reach, West Fork Yankee Fork Confluence, Preacher's Cove) throughout the dredged reach. The following Projects will be accomplished under this agreement:

1) The Yankee Fork Fish Pond Series 4 Passage Improvement Project will restore fish passage and connectivity for native resident and three ESA-listed anadromous and migratory fish species (Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook Salmon, Snake River Steelhead, and Bull Trout) in the Yankee Fork watershed. The project goal is to restore fish passage and connectivity in Pond Series 4. This project will achieve measurable and lasting benefits for ESA-listed migratory fishes, support indigenous management of culturally and ecologically resilient fisheries, enhance watershed resilience to threats from climate hazards, and increase the capacity for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to effectively manage tribal trust resources for cultural, spiritual, and subsistence purposes.

Pond Series 4 is a series of dredge ponds that the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes connected to the Yankee Fork in the mid 1980s. This pond series is connected with the Yankee Fork during high spring flows, but as flows recede, the inflow and outflow channels go dry. This excludes ingress and egress from the pond series, but also prevents access to a small unnamed spring, present in Pond Series 4, that was historically connected to the Yankee Fork.

TU will manage and administer a subcontract with Rio ASE, the habitat design engineer with the lowest bid to plan 2025 work in Pond Series 4. The implementation work will be funded in part by NOAA Fisheries; BPA will fund a portion of the design and/or implementation. Work in this contract will be focused on design.

Building on the success of previous habitat restoration actions, the TU and the Tribes will utilize the YFID Team’s experience and expertise to plan, design, permit, and implement this project that will reconnect and enhance more than 500 meters of existing pond and side channel habitat by removing in-stream barriers. The Pond Series 4 reconnection project will benefit adult and juvenile salmonids by providing: 1) perennial connectivity and passage to the mainstem Yankee Fork; 2) access to thermal refuge during winter months (i.e., winter-warm habitat) including refuge from supercooling and frazil ice; 3) access to high-water refugia during spring run-off; and 4) increased forage opportunities in productive side-channel habitat.

2)TU will coordinate with BPA, the SBT, and other Yankee Fork ID team members to identify and select work in one or more disconnected tributaries to reconnect to improve fish access to rearing and over-wintering habitat. The implementation work will be funded in part by NOAA Fisheries; BPA will fund a portion of the design and/or implementation. Work in this contract will be focused on identifying and selecting reconnect projects through feasibility analysis.

Jerry’s Creek and Silver Creek are small tributaries that enter the Yankee Fork valley from the east. Historically, native resident and migratory salmonids had access to both subwatersheds; however, these tributaries are currently disconnected from the mainstem Yankee Fork by dredge tailings. Reconnecting these tributary subwatersheds would provide 2.3 (Jerry’s Creek) and 5.7 (Silver Creek) square km of drainage area and 3.5 (Jerry’s Creek) and 6.1 (Silver Creek) stream kilometers currently inaccessible to native resident and ESA-listed migratory fishes.

The initial reconnaissance and design component of this project will be to devise and evaluate the feasibility of various alternatives for reconnecting these tributaries. Following this concept review, the Tribes and partners will select a feasible design concept that will match allocated funding from the project proposal to implement that project. Based on current expectations, Jerry’s Creek will be implemented first, while the design on Silver Creek will entail additional time to complete.