1994-018-05: Proposals

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Proposals

A Proposal is an application to continue existing work or start new work. While historically the Program solicited for all types of projects at once, starting in fiscal year 2009, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and BPA are reviewing and soliciting for projects that are similar in nature and intent. These "categorical" reviews started with Wildlife projects and continue with Research, Monitoring, & Evaluation (RME) and Artificial Production (Hatchery) projects.

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Project 1994-018-05 - Asotin Creek Enhancement and Restoration

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	Proposal Number	Proposal Version	Type	State	Project	Title	Description	Creator	Percent Complete	Proposal Budget Limit	Create Date	Last Updated	Primary Contact	Proponent	Purpose	Emphasis	Solicitation	Portfolio	Biop Fish Accord
		Proposal Version 1	Existing Project	Pending BPA Response				Megan Stewart


	GEOREV-1994-018-05	Proposal Version 1	Existing Project	Pending BPA Response	1994-018-05	Asotin Creek Watershed Protection and Restoration Project	Asotin Creek, a tributary to the Snake River at (Rm) 145 drains approximately 325 square miles of Asotin and Garfield Counties. Headwaters originate in the Blue Mountains (6,200 ft) and flow east into the Snake River (800 ft) at Asotin, WA. Located in WRIA # 35, the highest priority WRIA in southeastern Washington according to WDFW's "At-Risk Stock Significance Map," Asotin Creek is part of the Governor's Snake River Salmon Recovery Region. Asotin Creek remains an important Snake River tributary for anadromous salmonid production in Washington and has been given the distinction of a reserve for Wild Steelhead under current WDFW management policy. Charley Creek, an upper tributary, historically has some of the highest densities of juvenile steelhead in southeastern Washington according to WDFW fisheries surveys. ESA listed stocks of summer steelhead, bull trout and spring chinook along with resident rainbow trout utilize the watershed. Indigenous anadromous fish species most actively targeted for management are summer steelhead, bull trout, and spring chinook salmon. The goals for these species are to restore sustainable, naturally producing populations to support tribal and non-tribal harvest and cultural and economical practices while protecting the biological integrity and genetic diversity of these species in the watershed. The broad general strategies used to achieve the habitat objectives include protecting and restoring prioritized habitat through the use of in-stream, riparian and upland best management practices. The objective and primary goal of the proposed project is to continue the implementation of best management practices (BMPs) that to promote habitat restoration actions and address limiting factors by protecting and improving overall water quality, riparian area conditions and stream-channel habitat function. Additional objectives are to continue to reduce soil erosion and in-stream sedimentation by stabilizing soils and stream banks through agricultural BMPs, and to improve livestock management practices through actions that include exclusion from adjacent stream banks and beds, and the riparian zones. The Asotin County Conservation District will work with federal, state and local partner agencies and local landowners to implement strategic planning for each watershed in Asotin County. This process will not replicate previous planning efforts including the Asotin Subbasin plan, Snake River Regional Recovery Plan, WRIA 35 Watershed Plan and Asotin Creek Model Watershed Plan but will synthesize critical information from these plans to strategically identify prioritized locations and restoration activities required to recover and enhance aquatic habitats for ESA listed fish species. Strategic planning will prioritize the appropriate types of restoration activities in priority locations to address key limiting factors and provide the transition from the current model of opportunistic restoration and enhancement to focused restoration of key reaches containing critical ESA habitat and facilitate collaborative, focused, and value added restoration projects. The planning that will be done is modeled after The Atlas Process which will centralize data and maps related to limiting factors, life history requirements, biologically significant reaches, habitat restoration opportunities and priorities, conceptual restoration templates consistent with local geomorphology, and a scoring and ranking matrix which will be collectively evaluated by local and regional experts and citizens. The Atlas Process involves gathering existing planning documents, results of research and monitoring, and pertinent scientific literature to identify specific criteria for the preferred biological and physical habitat for focus species within a basin. Data and information are presented in a spatial context through GIS to evaluate species utilization, stream reach subdivision (Biologically Significant Reaches (BSR) and perform a limiting factors assessment. This process results in the identification of specific restoration activities as linked to limiting factors for the individual BSR’s. The GIS and remote sensing data are then utilized to strategically identify these specific restoration types and opportunities within the watershed. These opportunities, once identified through Atlas mapping will be categorized and ranked within a BSR specific implementation prioritization matrix relative to a number of factors influencing both the habitat benefits and feasibility for identified project opportunities. Methods: Assemble a Technical Advisor Committee (TAC). The Atlas Process involves two technical advisory committees with differing roles. 1. The Science TAC is a small working group of biologists and experts with knowledge and familiarity of focal species utilization within the specific stream system. The Science TAC performs the initial evaluation of spatial data layers to interpret how fish are using specific river reaches, identify the primary limiting factors by reach, and recommend restoration activity types that have the greatest ability to address those key limiting factors. Outcomes from the Science TAC effort include the specific reaches, limiting factors and habitat action types that will be utilized by the District in the project opportunity and identification process. 2. The Stakeholder TAC is a larger group of team members including policy advisors, members of the public with interests in the basin and federal, state and local partners in conservation. This group is open to the public and will review the Science TAC products and outcomes and contribute expertise and recommendations on feasibility criteria that influence the ability to implement specific restoration opportunities. The prioritized habitat restoration activity types are then used to asses potential project opportunity locations throughout the watershed and will be utilized by the District to target projects with the most fish benefit. The District is a non-regulatory agency that works with any and all landowners to address natural resource concerns and has funding from multiple sources that are utilized to provide cost-share to landowners to implement projects within the District boundaries. The majority of conservation work completed by the District has been on privately owned land and cost-share funding has allowed farmers and ranchers to adopt conservation practices and projects without jeopardizing the agricultural industry in Asotin County. Local support from private landowners and citizens has resulted in a holistic approach for habitat projects and continued landowner participation in conservation efforts has had a positive impact on fish habitat and other natural resources throughout Asotin County. Project funds will be utilizing to address prioritized habitat restoration activities that have been identified in Asotin Creek and its tributaries. The District has submitted a separate funding proposal (2002-050-00) that focuses on all other watersheds in Asotin County. The District has established cost-share rates for best management practices and leverages funds from BPA with other sources including the Washington State Conservation Commission (WSCC), Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB), Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE), USDA Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), USDA Countinuous Conservation Reserve Program (CCRP) and USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) funding programs to provide on the ground restoration activities that address natural resource concerns on a ridge top to ridge top approach. Without cost-share incentives, priority habitat restoration projects would be impossible to install on private property. The District has conducted water quality testing throughout Asotin County utilizing funds from the Washington State Department of Ecology and will continue to seek funding for future testing with the goal of testing being done for a two year span every 8 to 10 years. The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has a BPA funded project (2002-05-300) to assess salmonids in the Asotin Subbasin. Fish traps have been installed during migration periods to determine the number of returning ESA listed fish to streams. In additional, the United States Forest Service has automated water samplers (ISCOs) in the Asotin Creek drainage to measure sedimentation in the stream. Samples are analyzed for total suspended solids (TSS), conductivity and turbidity.	Megan Stewart			01/10/2013	11/26/2013	Megan Stewart	Asotin County Conservation District	Habitat	None	2013 Geographic Category Review	2013 Geographic Review	BiOp