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Archive | Date | Time | Type | From | To | By |
10/14/2011 | 10:06 AM | Status | Draft | <System> | ||
Download | 11/29/2011 | 12:38 PM | Status | Draft | ISRP - Pending First Review | <System> |
2/16/2012 | 2:38 PM | Status | ISRP - Pending First Review | ISRP - Pending Final Review | <System> | |
4/17/2012 | 2:44 PM | Status | ISRP - Pending Final Review | Pending Council Recommendation | <System> | |
2/26/2014 | 3:16 PM | Status | Pending Council Recommendation | Pending BPA Response | <System> |
Proposal Number:
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RESCAT-2001-033-00 | |
Proposal Status:
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Pending BPA Response | |
Proposal Version:
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Proposal Version 1 | |
Review:
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Resident Fish, Regional Coordination, and Data Management Category Review | |
Portfolio:
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Resident Fish, Regional Coordination, and Data Management Categorical Review | |
Type:
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Existing Project: 2001-033-00 | |
Primary Contact:
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Gerald Green | |
Created:
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10/14/2011 by (Not yet saved) | |
Proponent Organizations:
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Coeur D'Alene Tribe |
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Project Title:
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Hangman Creek Wildlife Restoration | |
Proposal Short Description:
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The Coeur d'Alene Tribe lost anadromous fish resources with the establishment of the FCRHS. This Project's ultimate goal is to prepare the Hangman landscape for the return of salmon. It works in partnership with #2001-032-00 to substitute the restoration of the native redband trout fishery to the Hangman Watershed in the interum. This Project secures habitats using property acquisitions, conservation easements and landowner agreements and initiates process restoration to achieve substitution. | |
Proposal Executive Summary:
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This Hangman Creek Wildlife Restoration Project (BPA #2001-033-00) was initially submitted to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in the 2000 Rolling Provincial Review. The Project was submitted with the partner project 2001-032-00, Implement Fisheries Enhancement on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation: Hangman Watershed. Both these projects were accepted and funded through that initial review. The Projects were contracted in August of 2001. Project #2001-032-00 was designed and implemented to provide a native fishery to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe by restoring the native redband trout populations to streams throughout the Hangman Watershed in Idaho (the Project Area). However, the condition of instream habitats for fish are inextricably linked to the management of the lands through which the streams flow. While 2001-032-00 focused on the fish and streams habitats, it could not address the larger landscape issues limiting the productivity of instream habitats. This Project (#2001-033-00) was submitted in conjunction with #2001-032-00 to address landscape level processes that degrade the instream fish habitats. This Project focuses on increasing baseflows within the Project Area. Low baseflows can best be addressed by restoring the processes, primarily floodplain processes that facilitate the persistence of floodplain storage through periods of baseflow. Floodplain restoration cannot proceed without the legal right of access, so one of the primary tools this Project uses is management rights acquisition through fee title purchase, the establishment of conservation easements, leases (CRP or CCRP), and landowner agreements. A major success for this Project was the 2005 acquisition of 1,195 acres surrounding the confluence of Sheep Creek and Hangman Creek within the Coeur d'Alene Reservation. This property provides dual benefits as it appropriately credits against the HU ledger of wildlife habitat lost during the construction and inundation associated with Albeni Falls Dam. Once restored, this property will also provide crucial habitat for native redband trout as substitution for anadromous fish resourses lost by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe during the establishment of the Federal Columbia River Hydropower System. During this project proposal period, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe proposes to continue pursuing access to other priority habitats. The methods that have proven successful in the past will be continuously pursued as will conservation easements, a process that has not proven successsful, but that holds the potential to open additional priority habitats to restoration efforts. Changes in land ownership may provide opportunities to pursue conservation easements and CRP partnerships. Habitat restoration will continue within lands currently managed by the Project and restoration will be initiated on any habitats that will be accessed through new agreements. Habitat restoration proceeds from landscape alterations designed to decommision the artificial drainage networks within the floodplains encompassed by target properties, and through native vegetation restoration as is described in the Idaho/Washington Palouse Prairie Restoration SAFE Proposal (2007). In following the SAFE proposed process, native grasses are established first to minimize noxious weed intrusions and once native grasses are firmly established, native forbs, shrubs and trees are planted. The objectives of this project are to increase the duration of shallow groundwater through the dry season and to increase baseflows in Project Area streams. Restoration of the processes that develop native floodplain functions and habitats will be accomplished through strategies that partner with beaver to achieve Project objectives. Habitat restoration will, at least initially, favor species that provide beaver with the food and materials they need to establish dams within the entrenched channels of the Project Area. Additionally, dams will be reinforced to ensure their persistance through periods of high flows. The activities proposed within this NPCC project submittal process will address Spokane Subbasin Terrestrial Objectives 1A10 and 1A11 (both Priority 1 Objectives), and Aquatic Objectives 2A3 (Second Priority) and 2B1 (First Priority). These activities are also completely consistent with the 2009 Program Amendment sections covering Wildife Mitigation, Resident Fish Substitution, and those that stress that wildife "mitigation projects should be integrated with the fish mitigation projects as much as possible (Section II, D, 6). |
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Purpose:
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Habitat | |
Emphasis:
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Restoration/Protection | |
Species Benefit:
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Anadromous: 0.0% Resident: 70.0% Wildlife: 30.0% | |
Supports 2009 NPCC Program:
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Yes | |
Subbasin Plan:
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Fish Accords:
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None | |
Biological Opinions:
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None |
Contacts:
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From time immemorial the Coeur d’Alene Tribe depended on runs of anadromous salmon and steelhead and centered their fishing activities along the upper reaches of the Spokane River and in Hangman Creek (Scholz et. al. 1985). It is generally acknowledged that the Coeur d’Alenes shared Spokane Falls with the Spokane People, but Hangman Creek at the confluence with the Spokane River and the fishing site near what is now Tekoa, Washington are recorded as being primarily used by the Coeur d’Alene People (Scholz et. al. 1985). Several estimates have been made of the amount of the anadromous fish resource that was consumed by the Coeur d’Alene People. These estimated annual per capita consumption rates for the Coeur d’Alenes ranged from 100 pounds per year to 700 pounds per year, with the average per capita for Plateau Tribes in general ranging from 300-365 pounds per year (Scholz et al. 1985).
Construction and operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) during the 20th century directly led to the complete extirpation of all anadromous and some resident fish populations as well as the permanent destruction of critical fish and wildlife habitat in the Upper Columbia River and its tributaries. Such is the case with Chief Joseph, Grand Coulee, and Albeni Falls dams as well as additional non-Federal hydro facilities constructed along the Spokane River. Simultaneously, rapid changes in land management practices further altered the fish species composition in Hangman Creek and the availability of native terrestrial wildlife habitat (Edelen and Allen 1998). From the World War II era to the present, streams were straightened and channelized to provide more arable lands, with the greatest modifications occurring during the 1950s and 1960s. By 1996, the predominant land use within the Hangman Watershed on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation was agriculture (65.1%), followed by forest (37.9%), grassland (0.2%), developed (0.3%) and wetland (0.006%) (Redmond and Prather 1996). Because of the modifications to Hangman Creek, the watershed was listed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s 303d list in 1998 for habitat alteration, sediment, nutrients, and bacteria. Moreover, tributaries to Hangman Creek within Idaho were also listed in 2002 for elevated temperature. Chinook are acknowledged to prefer riverine habitat (Healey 1991), and the reference to their harvest in the Hangman Watershed near the western boundaries of the current Coeur d’Alene Reservation (Scholz et al. 1985) indicates conditions prior to the 20th century were substantially different than the current Hangman Watershed.
The Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act (Act) of 1980 explicitly gives the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) the authority and responsibility “to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife to the extent affected by the development and operation of any hydroelectric project of the Columbia River and its tributaries in a manner consistent with the program adopted by the Northwest Power Planning Council (NWPPC).” The Coeur d’Alene Tribe has chosen to continue the substitution of restoration of the resident redband populations for the loss of anadromous fish through provisions of the Act as part of the Substitution for Anadromous Fish Losses defined in the NPCC’s 2009 Fish and Wildlife Program Amendments (i.e. Restore and increase the abundance of native resident fish species throughout their historic ranges when original habitat conditions exist or can be feasibly restored or improved. {Page 12}). The companion projects entitled, Coeur d’Alene Fisheries Enhancement- Hangman Creek (BPA Project #2001-032-00) and Hangman Creek Wildlife Restoration (BPA Project #2001-033-00), were initially submitted during 2000 for inclusion in the FY2001 – FY2003 budget cycle for the Spokane Subbasin, and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe proposes to continue the process of Resident Fish Substitution by resubmitting these projects in the current proposal submittal process.
Environmental Conditions in the Project Area
The Project Area is the entire 625.9 square kilometers of the Hangman Watershed of the Spokane Subbasin that is encompassed by northern Idaho (Figure 1). It is bounded by Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 11 coordinates 496-523 km east and 5209-5260 km north. The Project Area includes approximately 47% of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation Land base. Approximately 7.2% of the Project Area lies east, and outside of the Reservation. The Washington-Idaho State border, which corresponds to the western border of the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, marks the western boundary of the Project Area. The waters of Hangman Creek, which originate in the Project Area, flow northwestward entering Washington near the town of Tekoa, Washington and continue to flow northwest to the confluence with the Spokane River, which is just west of the City of Spokane at Spokane River Mile 72.4. In Washington, Hangman Creek joins with Little Hangman, Rock Creek, and the North Fork Rock Creek, which are the major tributaries that originate within the Coeur d’Alene Reservation portion of the Project Area (Figure 5).
The geology of the Project Area consists of a Precambrian basement complex (the Belt Series) overlain in most areas by alternating strata of the Latah Sands and Clays and Columbia River Basalts that are highly variable in extent and depth (Ko et al., 1974). Terrain above roughly 850 meters is composed mainly of Precambrian quartzites and argillites. Terrain below 850 meters is capped almost exclusively by the Palouse loess uplands and Holocene alluvium along current stream channels, and exhibits characteristic rolling, hilly topography. The Project Area is perched 150 to 300 feet above its aquifers that are confined to Latah Sands and Clays and the Columbia River Basalts (Ko et al. 1974).
Figure 1. That portion of the Hangman Watershed of the Spokane Subbasin encompassed by the Coeur d’Alene Reservation plus that portion of the Hangman Watershed upstream and east of the Reservation encompasses the entirety of the Project Area.
The Project Area is on the eastern edge of what Bailey (1995) referred to as the Dry Steppe portion of the Temperate Steppe Division. Elevations range from the 755.9 meters where the North Fork of Rock Creek leaves the Project Area and enters into Washington to 1,506.9 meters at the peak of Moses Mountain, which lies on the eastern boundary of the Project Area between the Hangman and the St. Maries River Watersheds. The higher elevation quartzite and argillite formations are largely covered by coniferous forests. The lower-elevational Palouse formation, with its deep loess soils, is managed for the cultivation of non-irrigated crops (e.g. wheat, oats, and lentils). Bottomland wetlands have largely disappeared due to ditching and draining of fields, entrenched stream beds, and cultivation. Riparian vegetation is likewise sparse over much of the basin. In the valley bottom along the mainstem, fields are typically plowed to the channel margins. Where riparian vegetation does exist in the open bottomlands, it is dominated by invasive reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea).
The climate in the Project Area is sub-humid temperate with cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Annual precipitation at DeSmet, Idaho for the years 1963-1983 was estimated to range from 70 to 90 cm (WRCC 2008). A distinct precipitation season typically began in October or November and continued through March. Approximately two-thirds of annual precipitation occurred during this period and rain-on-snow events generated by moisture laden Pacific air masses were common in late winter months (Bauer and Wilson 1983). Temperatures in the watershed are mild overall. The average daily maximum for August of the 1963-1983 reporting period was 82.2° F. The average daily minimum for January, which was the coldest month of the year, was 20.9° F. Snows in the lower elevations of the Project Area do not persist throughout the winter and in the higher elevations the snows are usually completely melted by April or May.
Natural disturbance and succession regimes in the target watersheds have been severely altered during the last 100 years and are consistent with commodity-induced patterns described for much of the Interior Columbia Basin (USDA Forest Service 1996). The prevailing climate and topography, when coupled with land management practices such as tilling, tiling, draining, grazing, riparian vegetation removal, stream channelization, logging, and road building (Redmond and Prother 1996, Black et al. 1998, Jankovsky-Jones 1999), have all contributed to the loss of function in 80% of historic wetlands (Coeur d’Alene Tribe 2000), a flashy hydrologic cycle and increased stream sediment pollution (Spokane County Conservation District 1994, Isaacson 1998, Uhlman 2007, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality 2007, Washington Department of Ecology 2009). Rain-on-snow events in particular swell streams, contribute to the erosion of lands and cause a pulse of stream sediment pollutants (Peters et al. 2003, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality 2007, Washington Department of Ecology 2009, Kinkead and Firehammer 2011). Conversion of forestlands and other native vegetation communities to agriculture production has enhanced the rain-on-snow phenomenon and accelerated the rate of snow pack depletion to varying extents. Estimates of peak stream flow increases in the Project Area range from 55-93% (Coeur d’Alene Tribe 2000). Between 2003 and 2007, discharge regimes during high flow events were flashier in the Hangman Mainstem and in Mission and Sheep Creeks compared with tributaries that are less disturbed such as Indian and Nehchen creeks and peak flows at the State Line Gauging Station on Hangman Creek (gauging station #12422990) ranged from approximately 300 cfs to approximately 2,500 cfs while base flow remained essentially zero (Figure 2) (Kinkead and Firehammer 2011).
Figure 2. Comparisons of discharge in Hangman Creek and four fish bearing tributaries, 2003-2007 (Kinkead and Firehammer2011).
Current stream morphology and landform within the valley bottoms of the Hangman Watershed are consistent with the entrenchment and development of a new, lower elevational flood plain that occurs following a major disturbance (Leopold 1994, Rosgen 1996, Shields et al. 1995, Darby and Simon 1999, Beechie et al. 2007). Stream cross sectional data from the Upper Hangman Watershed (example: Figure 3) gathered by this Project along Hangman Creek and through watershed assessments (Inter-Fluve 2006; 2008) indicate that streams throughout the Project Area are entrenched 3 to 8 feet below the valley floors. Valley bottoms in the Hangman Watershed are in the early stages of transitioning from the straight, entrenched channels that were constructed during the middle decades of the 20th century toward a new flood plain below the current valley bottoms. The high sediment loads in the Hangman Creek and low base flows are indicative of this same transition phase in stream morphologic development (Hardin-Davis, Inc. 2005, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality 2007, Washington Department of Ecology 2009).
Figure 3. Sample cross section of the Hangman Creek Stream Channel within hnt'k'wipn Management Area. The red horizontal line represents the approximate elevation of the abandoned flood plain. The blue horizontal line represents the elevation of the floodplain being established by Hangman Creek at this particular site.
The entrenchment of stream channels and removal of floodplain storage through artificial drainage techniques has reduced floodplain recharge and hyporheic exchange (Darby and Simon 1999) through reduction in the frequency and duration of overbank flows. Over bank flow is particularly important in promoting floodplain recharge and maintaining wetlands in perched systems like Hangman Creek, where fine loess soils restrict water infiltration (Westbrook et al. 2006; Westbrook et al 2011). The reduction in floodplain storage within the Project Area is evident in the high peak flows and increased sediment loads resulting from bank erosion during high water events, and in the low baseflows observed during the warmest part of the year (Darby and Simon 1999, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality 2007, Mitsch and Gosselink 2007, Washington Department of Ecology 2009, Kincaid and Firehammer 2011).
The named streams within the Project Area include the North Fork of Rock Creek, Rose Creek, Rock Creek, Little Hangman Creek, Moctileme Creek, Mission Creek, Lolo Creek, Tensed Creek, Sheep Creek, Smith Creek, Mineral Creek, Nehchen Creek, Indian Creek, South Fork of Hangman Creek, Conrad Creek, Martin Creek, Tenas Creek, Papoose Creek, Hill Creek, Bunnel Creek and Hangman Creek. According to Tribal elders and other local sources, all of these tributaries except Little Hangman were home to trout in the 1940’s. Currently however, native redband are relegated to upper elevational, isolated, forested stream reaches of Mission Creek, Sheep Creek, Nehchen Creek, Indian Creek, and South Fork of Hangman, and the upper reaches of Hangman Creek (Figures 4 and 5) (Peters et al. 2003, Kinkead and Firehammer 2011).
Figure 4. Spatial pattern of temperature exceedances above established thresholds during critical periods for redband trout in the upper Hangman watershed. Thresholds included a value of 14o C during the spawning/incubation period from May 1 to June 31, and a value of 20o C during the summer rearing period from July 1 to August 31.
From 2004 to 2007, high stream temperatures during the spawning/incubation period of early summer (Figure 4) and low flows (e.g., standing pools and dewatered reaches) coupled with inadequate dissolved oxygen levels (i.e., < 7 mg/L) during summer base flow periods presented suboptimal rearing conditions for redband trout in the lower elevational portions of the Project Area that are heavily impacted by agriculture (Kinkead and Firehammer 2011) (Table 1, e.g., Andrew Springs, Lolo, Tensed, Rock Creek, Mission Creek, Sheep Creek, SF Hangman Creek). Low flows and attendant low levels of dissolved oxygen were also documented in lower elevations of the Mainstem of Hangman Creek in 2007. These findings join a growing body of evidence that indicate the ubiquitous distribution of the low base flows, lack of oxygen, high summer stream temperatures and high sediment loads in the larger, lower elevation streams of the Project Area (Peters et al. 2003, Hardin-Davis, Inc. 2003, Hardin-Davis, Inc. 2005, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality 2007, Washington Department of Ecology 2009) have relegated the remnant populations of native redband trout to the isolated, upper elevational, forested stream reaches of the Project Area (Figure 5).
Table 1. Discharge (DS; cfs) and dissolved oxygen (D.O.; mg/L) measured during base flow conditions in Project Area stream reaches from 2004 through 2007. Sites are ordered relative to their longitudinal position downstream to upstream within each sub-watershed (Peters et al. 2003, Kinkead and Firehammer 2011).
The QHA analysis completed as part of the development of the Spokane Subbasin Plan reflects the data gathered on instream conditions. Habitat factors identified in the QHA include alteration of stream flow patterns, increased sediment production and delivery to streams, widespread channel instability, elevated summer water temperatures in mainstem reaches, and reduction in overall habitat diversity/complexity (Intermountain Province Subbasin Plan 2004). The magnitude and severity of impacts were ranked with the Project Area evidencing the greatest deviation from the reference habitat conditions for redband trout in the subbasin (Intermountain Province Subbasin Plan 2004).
Genetic Status of Redband in the Project Areas
Results from the genetic analysis conducted in 2003-2004 indicated that the isolated subpopulations of redband trout in the Project Area formed a cohesive group (Small and Von Bargen 2005). The finding that the genetic signature from redband trout in California Creek, a tributary in the Washington portion of the Hangman Watershed, aligned more closely with fish from the Project Area than with those in other portions of the Spokane Subbasin is evidence that movement and sub-population connectivity throughout the Hangman Watershed likely existed in the past and may have been an important mechanism that promoted metapopulation persistence. However, results also indicated that population fragmentation indicative of reproduction isolation may be occurring at the tributary scale in the upper Hangman watershed (i.e., significant genotypic differences among sampled sub-populations). Furthermore, significant departures from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations for most of the upper Hangman collections suggest that either substantial inbreeding may be occurring within each sub-population, likely the result of small effective population sizes, or that each subpopulation experienced a recent genetic bottleneck. Collectively, these results suggest that increasing the connectivity of tributary subpopulations would promote a more robust and resilient population structure and would minimize the adverse consequences that arise from isolated, small populations (Gilpin and Soule 1986).
Results from the genetic analysis also indicated that redband trout in the Project Area were relatively pure with a lack of detectable introgression with coastal strains of rainbow trout. Thus, even though the non-native coastal subspecies of rainbow trout have been repeatedly introduced into the Spokane River by WDFW from 1933 to 2002, apparently conditions in Hangman Creek have prevented successful colonization by these fish and a resulting lack of genetic introgression. Another finding from the genetic analyses that confirmed our visual observations was that fish sampled from upper Nehchen Creek were genetically more similar to cutthroat trout than to redband trout. However, given the low allelic richness detected in these fish and the lack of detectable cutthroat genes in other sampled tributary subpopulations, it is likely that the fish from Nehchen creek were the result of a localized introduction of a small number of fish and, as a result, were relatively isolated and not widespread throughout the upper Hangman watershed. Indeed, this was corroborated by a landowner who claims to have transplanted cutthroat trout from Benewah Creek, a tributary of Coeur d’Alene Lake, into Nehchen Creek in 1985.
Proposed Response to Conditions and Limiting Factors
Because of the extent of the problems that limit native trout distribution in the Project Area and the precarious status of the remnant redband populations, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe has proposed two projects for the NPCC’s Resident Fish Substitution Process. One project is designed to focus on the resident fish populations and the in-stream and near stream factors that limit their distribution in the Project Area (Project #2001-032-00). The other project (Project #2001-033-00) is designed to address the landscape issues that limit baseflow in the streams of the Project Area. Project #2001-033-00 is essentially responsible for landscape restoration as a precursor to the work done in-stream and near the streams by #2001-032-00 to establish a fishery in the Project Area.
The Priority Areas for the two projects is the result of each project’s specific purpose (Coeur d’Alene Tribe Wildlife Program 2011). The Priority Area for Coeur d’Alene Fisheries Enhancement – Hangman Creek (#2001-032-00) is the stream reaches that support the remnant populations of redband in the Project Area, the stream reaches that can serve to connect the isolated redband populations and the near stream habitats that exert the strongest immediate influence on stream conditions (Figure 5). The Priority Area for the Hangman Creek Wildlife Restoration Project (#2001-033-00) is the portion of the landscape (identified as Hydro Priority in Figure 5) that is most predictive of saturated soils and wetlands, thus most capable of accepting the recharge during the wet season and storing it for release into adjacent streams through the dry season. The Priority Areas for the two Projects overlap somewhat as will some of the activities within their scopes of work; however, the Fisheries Project focuses on increasing redband populations and distributions where there is a high probability of success, while the Wildlife Project focuses on improving baseflows throughout the Project Area to eventually increase the area of operation for the Fisheries Project. One area of project implementation where an overlap in scopes of work will occur is in partnering with beaver to achieve project objectives. An increase in beaver ponds holds the promise of increasing habitat for native fish (Pollock et al. 2003); a finding that may prove to be useful to Project #2001-032-00. Partnering with beaver has been successful in reversing some of the stream channel incision and its deleterious effects on baseflows in Bridge Creek of the John Day River Basin (Pollock et al. 2007, Pollock et al. 2011), which does not appear to be an isolated incident (Westbrook et al. 2006, Westbrook et al. 2011). Project #2001-033-00 hopes to achieve similar results throughout the Project Area.
Figure 5. Priority Habitats for BPA Project #2001-032-00 are the in-stream and near stream habitats associated with the salmonid bearing stream reaches and the potential connecting stream reaches. Priority Habitats for BPA Project #2001-033-00 are identified as the Hydrologic Priority Area, where the restoration of floodplain function has the potential to increase baseflows.
Floodplain Storage (OBJ-1)
Decrease the rate of floodplain groundwater depletion through dry season
Baseflow (OBJ-2)
Increase baseflow in Project Area streams
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Public Outreach (OBJ-3)
Involve students in learning experiences within project areas, in management activities and in data gathering to increase interest in project success
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To view all expenditures for all fiscal years, click "Project Exp. by FY"
To see more detailed project budget information, please visit the "Project Budget" page
Expense | SOY Budget | Working Budget | Expenditures * |
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FY2019 | $317,750 | $317,750 | $301,809 |
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General | $317,750 | $301,809 | |
FY2020 | $317,750 | $317,750 | $299,980 |
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General | $317,750 | $299,980 | |
FY2021 | $317,750 | $317,750 | $304,496 |
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General | $317,750 | $304,496 | |
FY2022 | $317,750 | $317,750 | $289,974 |
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General | $317,750 | $289,974 | |
FY2023 | $317,750 | $533,750 | $495,713 |
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General | $533,750 | $495,713 | |
FY2024 | $331,731 | $331,731 | $322,623 |
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General | $331,731 | $322,623 | |
FY2025 | $0 | ($28,196) | |
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General | $0 | ($28,196) | |
Capital | SOY Budget | Working Budget | Expenditures * |
FY2019 | $0 | $0 | |
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FY2020 | $0 | $0 | |
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FY2021 | $0 | $0 | |
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FY2022 | $0 | $0 | |
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FY2023 | $0 | $0 | |
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FY2024 | $0 | $0 | |
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FY2025 | $0 | $0 | |
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* Expenditures data includes accruals and are based on data through 31-Mar-2025 |
Cost Share Partner | Total Proposed Contribution | Total Confirmed Contribution |
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There are no project cost share contributions to show. |
Fiscal Year | Total Contributions | % of Budget | ||
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2024 | $398,167 | 55% | ||
2023 | $3,666,165 | 87% | ||
2022 | $1,887,750 | 86% | ||
2021 | $378,054 | 54% | ||
2020 | $161,252 | 34% | ||
2019 | $1,285,357 | 80% | ||
2018 | $112,737 | 26% | ||
2017 | $153,482 | 33% | ||
2016 | $158,010 | 33% | ||
2015 | $154,763 | 33% | ||
2014 | $149,235 | 32% | ||
2013 | $194,814 | 39% | ||
2012 | $769,787 | 71% | ||
2011 | $145,805 | 33% | ||
2010 | $117,905 | 29% | ||
2009 | $79,195 | 22% | ||
2008 | $16,703 | 6% | ||
2007 |
Annual Progress Reports | |
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Expected (since FY2004): | 19 |
Completed: | 18 |
On time: | 18 |
Status Reports | |
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Completed: | 79 |
On time: | 43 |
Avg Days Late: | 3 |
Count of Contract Deliverables | ||||||||||||||
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Earliest Contract | Subsequent Contracts | Title | Contractor | Earliest Start | Latest End | Latest Status | Accepted Reports | Complete | Green | Yellow | Red | Total | % Green and Complete | Canceled |
22364 | 24595, 29020, 35067, 39739, 44311, 49588, 54815, 59395, 62869, 66784, 70503, 74151, 76952, 76828 REL 3, 76828 REL 7, 76828 REL 11, 76828 REL 19, 76828 REL 25, 84053 REL 5 | 2001-033-00 EXP HANGMAN CREEK FISH & WILDLIFE RESTORATION | Coeur D'Alene Tribe | 03/01/2005 | 09/30/2024 | Closed | 79 | 281 | 4 | 3 | 53 | 341 | 83.58% | 0 |
Project Totals | 79 | 281 | 4 | 3 | 53 | 341 | 83.58% | 0 |
Contract | WE Ref | Contracted Deliverable Title | Due | Completed |
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24595 | T: 53 | Open Woodland Habitat with HUs secured from catastrophic wildfire | 9/22/2006 | 9/22/2006 |
24595 | J: 157 | Weekly water table depth and soil moisture measurements | 9/29/2006 | 9/29/2006 |
29020 | D: 174 | hnt'k'wipn Management Plan | 9/21/2007 | 9/21/2007 |
29020 | T: 92 | Lands Along Hangman Mainstem and Tributary Streams Enrolled in Riparian CRP . | 9/28/2007 | 9/28/2007 |
29020 | C: 118 | Coordinated efforts to restore native habitats to the Hangman Watershed | 9/30/2007 | 9/30/2007 |
35067 | L: 47 | Habitat Restoration Efforts Initiated Through the Plantings of Native Grasses | 11/5/2007 | 11/5/2007 |
35067 | C: 175 | Designs for future wetland configuration on the hnt'k'wipn properties. | 9/5/2008 | 9/5/2008 |
35067 | D: 175 | Design for a Stable Sheep Creek Realignment | 9/5/2008 | 9/5/2008 |
35067 | G: 181 | Disabled Drain Tile. | 9/27/2008 | 9/27/2008 |
35067 | B: 174 | Updated Hangman Habitat Prioritization Plan | 9/30/2008 | 9/30/2008 |
39739 | L: 47 | Habitat Restoration Efforts Initiated Through the Plantings of Native Grasses | 11/1/2008 | 11/1/2008 |
39739 | H: 181 | Drainage ditch "F" filled and water rerouted through natural drainage channel. | 9/30/2009 | 9/30/2009 |
39739 | G: 181 | Drainage ditch "A" filled and water rerouted through natural drainage system. | 9/30/2009 | 9/30/2009 |
44311 | L: 40 | Fences installed to protect native fish and wildlife habitats | 3/31/2010 | 3/31/2010 |
44311 | K: 47 | Habitat Restoration Efforts Initiated Through the Plantings of Native Grasses, Shrubs and Trees | 5/3/2010 | 5/3/2010 |
44311 | I: 53 | Coniferous Forest Thinned to Pine Open Woodland Densities | 9/30/2010 | 9/30/2010 |
44311 | G: 181 | Realignment of Sheep Creek according to design specifications. | 9/30/2010 | 9/30/2010 |
44311 | N: 92 | Identification of lands eligible for enrollment in Riparian CRP | 9/30/2010 | 9/30/2010 |
49588 | L: 53 | Controlled Burn of Approximately 27 Acres of hnt'k'wipn Pine Forest | 12/9/2010 | 12/9/2010 |
49588 | N: 40 | Fences installed to protect establishing vegetation | 6/3/2011 | 6/3/2011 |
49588 | E: 141 | Revised Prioritization Plan | 7/29/2011 | 7/29/2011 |
49588 | M: 47 | Habitat Restoration Efforts Initiated Through the Plantings of Native Grasses, Shrubs and Trees | 7/29/2011 | 7/29/2011 |
49588 | D: 87 | HEP Report | 8/19/2011 | 8/19/2011 |
49588 | P: 92 | Identification of Priority Habitats Eligible for Enrollment in FSA/NRCS Programs | 9/30/2011 | 9/30/2011 |
View full Project Summary report (lists all Contracted Deliverables and Quantitative Metrics)
Explanation of Performance:Prioritization Plan {Work Element B:174 from 9/30/2008, and E:141 from 2011}
The Project Area is extensive (625.9 square kilometers) and streams within the Project Area are severely degraded from conditions that support native salmonids. With the extensive scope of the problem, identifying where on the landscape to concentrate efforts and why represents a major achievement for this Project. The Hangman Fisheries Project (#2001-032-00) was readily able to identify the stream reaches that were important to the remnant redband populations, but how to address the landscape level issues remained unclear until a funding source outside the BPA projects investigated hydrologic processes in the Project Area. On March 15, 2004, the Project Proponents, along with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Environmental Program applied for an EPA grant to identify the major hydrologic process that resulted in soil saturation and wetland development in the Project Area. It was assumed that improving wetland development would also contribute to increased base flows (Mitsch and Gosselink 2007) and thus address low base flows, one of the limiting factors for native redband trout (Hardin-Davis 2005). The final report (Callery 2007) identified downslope as the index that most closely predicted soil saturation and hydric soil locations. This was consistent with our understanding of floodplain storage and hyporheic exchange (Darby and Simons 1999), as well as our understanding of the increased floodplain storage that can result from beaver dam construction (Ruedemann and Schoonmaker 1938, Naiman et al. 1988, Pollock et al. 2003, Rosell et al. 2005, Pollock et al. 2007). The results of the EPA funded study were used to define the Hydrologic Priority Area for the Hangman Wildlife Restoration Project (Figure 1) in the prioritization plan for the Project Area (Prioritization Area Selection within the Hangman Watershed of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation). This Project can now proceed with landscape restoration with some assurance that specific efforts within the Hydrologic Priority Areas across the Project Area will result in increased base flow.
Figure 1. Map of the Project Area with the location of priority stream reaches and priority landforms designated.
Access to Priority Habitats {Work Elements T:92 from 9/30/2007, N:92 from 9/30/2010, and P:92 from 9/30/2011}
Figure 2 illustrates the location of the properties this Project has gained access to through conservation easements, partnership in CCRP and CRP, landowner agreements, and property purchases. Access to priority habitats to initiate restoration has been one of the main objectives of this Project and has been accomplished through a variety of processes. The following is a list of the tools used to gain access to priority habitats. The methods of gaining access are listed beginning with the most preferred to the least preferred:
hnt’k’wipn Management Area – approximately 1,195 acres. This property was purchased with capitol funds from the Bonneville Power Administration to mitigate against the Albeni Falls wildlife HU ledger. The Management Area also encompasses stream reaches that can provide habitats for redband trout and assist in connecting the isolated populations in the Project Area.
Avista Purchases – Three privately owned properties were purchased in FY2011 as part of the license condition for the FERC relicensing of Post Falls Dam. Properties were identified using data and GIS coverages provided by this Project’s Prioritiztion Plan titled Prioritization Area Selection within the Hangman Watershed of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. These properties serve as mitigation for wetland types lost through operation of the Post Falls Dam. Properties are to be managed to maximize wetland potential. The properties include:
the 24.9 acres Sutherland Trust Property, which is completely within the Hydrologic Priority Area and contains portions of Hangman and Smith Creeks just above their confluence;
the 137 acre McKinnon Property, which includes 72.5 acres of Hydrologic Priority habitat along Hangman Creek adjacent to and downstream of the Sutherland Property; and
the 200 acre Moses Mountain property, which includes 120.0 acres of Hydrologic Priority habitat along Hangman Creek.
Isom Property on Smith Creek – approximately 17.6 acres along a 500 meter length of Smith Creek, adjacent to and upstream of the Sutterland Trust Property.
Allotment 434 – approximately 19.8 acres along an 825 meter length of Rose Creek, a Hangman Tributary that once supported trout.
Worley Rock Pit – a 150 acre parcel owned by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe near the North Fork of Rock Creek. The property encompasses a substantial wetland/drainage that will be used as an aspen nursery.
Allotment 375 – approximately 30.5 acres within a 100 foot buffer of the original Sheep Creek Channel, which will be perminantly reactivated when the newly constructed channel within the adjacent and upstream hnt’k’wipn Management Area is stabilized with vegetation. The agreement allows the Tribe’s Natural Resource staff to complete adjustments to the channel and plant vegetation along its banks.
Tribal Parcel 1030 – approximately 24.0 acres within a 25 foot buffer of the original Sheep Creek Channel, which will be permanently reactivated when the newly constructed channel within the adjacent and upstream hnt’k’wipn Management Area is stabilized with vegetation. Access was gained through Coeur d’Alene Tribal Resolution 12 (2010), which allows the Natural Resource Staff to plant native vegetation along the banks of the reestablished stream channel.
Allotment 336 – approximately 12.4 acres within a 100 foot buffer of Sheep Creek. A336 is adjacent to the hnt’k’wipn Management Area and upstream along Sheep Creek.
Allotment 340 – approximately 27.5 acres within a 100 foot buffer of Sheep Creek. A340 is adjacent to A336 and upstream along Sheep Creek.
Allotment 187 – a 240 acre allotment near Little Hangman that includes drainages that will be used as an aspen nursery.
Figure 2. Properties encompassing habitats that are being restored by Projects #2001-033-00 and #2001-032-00.
hnt’k’wipn Management Plan {D:174 from 9/21/2007}
The hnt’k’wipn Management Plan was written in FY2007 and final approval was granted in May of 2008. The Plan discussed the history and purpose of the purchase of the various parcels that make up the Management area and established a strategy to restore forest habitats, hydrology and agricultural areas of the hnt’k’wipn Management Area. The following discussion is taken directly from the IMPLEMENTATION TIME LINE segment of the Management Plan (page 49) and was intended to set forth a strategy to restore habitats within the hnt’k’wipn Management Area.
The size of the hnt'k'wipn Management Area and the extent of the reduction in native vegetation coverage warrants a step wise implementation of restoration activities. To remove all the agricultural crop production and replace it with native vegetation in a single year would concentrate expenses, cause intense logistical problems, increase the probability of failure and generally increase the difficulty of structuring the landscape to favor a functioning hydrologic system. The Preferred Alternative will be implemented on a stepwise schedule, with the completion of each year’s activities preparing the landscape and logistics for the next year’s work. The following brief overview of project implementation is addressed by calendar year since much of this work must be planned in accordance with the seasons.
Central to ensuring success of establishing native vegetation is the underlying hydrology of the hnt'k'wipn Management Area. The major focus for the first 6 years of management plan implementation will be completing the landscape alterations that will allow reestablishment of hydrologic processes that hold moisture in the soils for longer durations through the growing season. Design of floodplains, wetlands and stream realignments will consume the first year of management plan implementation (2008). Also in 2008, the drain tiles that underlie the agricultural fields on either side of Sheep Creek will be disrupted as this does not require engineering and must be completed prior to wetland establishment and stream re-alignment. Timing of landscape alteration will depend largely on the specifics of the floodplain, and wetland and stream course designs that are developed in 2008. However, implementation will proceed with floodplain wetland enhancements completed before the realignment of Sheep Creek. The creation of wetlands within historic floodplains and using the fill to cover over drainage ditches will be completed in 2009. The realignment of Sheep Creek will occur in 2010 if the flood plain alterations and preparations for the realignment are completed. Completing the floodplain alterations first provides a floodplain hydrology that will support the Sheep Creek realignment.
Planting of native vegetation will proceed once it is established that no further disturbance will occur on a given site. Initially, only small areas will be planted with native vegetation, but as landscape alterations are completed planting efforts will expand. In 2008, the forested segment of the hnt'k'wipn Management Area will be thinned to approximate pine open woodland conditions, burned to minimize fuel loads, release nutrients and clean the forest floor of debris that remains from the thinning project. The forest understory will then be planted with deciduous shrub and trees that are currently lacking under the conifer overstory. Establishing native vegetation on former agricultural lands is difficult in areas such as the hnt'k'wipn Management Area because of the invasiveness of noxious weeds. An established strategy for this region is to first use a broad range herbicide on the target area to eliminate all plant growth, then plant native grasses as a first phase of native vegetation establishment (Idaho/Washington Palouse Prairie SAFE Proposal 2007). Once the native grasses begin to establish, the area is then treated with an herbicide that will destroy the volunteer broadleaf plants. The broad leaf herbicide treatment post grass germination will prevent noxious weeds from establishing and allow grasses to flourish. After the successful establishment of native grasses, planting of native broadleaf and deciduous shrub and tree species will begin. Small segments of former agricultural land that are not going to be disturbed by landscape alterations will be planted with native grasses in 2008. In 2009, once it is verified that the native grasses sown in 2008 have established, planting of native forbs, shrubs and trees will begin on these areas. In succeeding years, new areas will be treated and planted with native grasses once landscape alterations are completed. Generally planting with native forbs, shrubs and trees will follow native grass plantings by a year. The uplands within the hnt'k'wipn Management Area will be the final stage of native vegetation establishment. This first phase of management, which is the establishment of natural hydrological processes and native vegetation patterns is scheduled for completion in 2015, at that point management emphasis will shift to maintaining those amenities within the property boundaries.
Restoration of the hnt’k’wipn Management Area {Work Elements T:53 from 9/22/2006, L:47 from 11/5/2007, C:175 from 9/5/2008, L:47 from 11/1/2008, H:181 from 9/30/2009, G:181 from 9/30/2009, L:40 from 3/31/2010, K:47 from 5/3/2010, I:53 from 9/30/2010, G:181 from 9/30/2010, L:53 from 12/9/2010, N:40 from 6/30/2011, M:47 from 7/29/2011)
Restoration of Pine Open Woodland within the hnt’k’wipn Management Area
Restoration of the hnt’k’wipn Management Area has proceeded according to the processes described in the 2008 hnt’k’wipn Management Plan, with the forested habitats following a different prescription than the agricultural lands. Ladder fuels were to be removed from forested habitats, then the pine overstory thinned to pine open woodland densities, then the deciduous shrubs and trees were to be established under the more open overstory. Within the agricultural lands, landscape alterations were to be completed prior to native grass establishment, and native grass establishment would precede the introduction of the full suite of native vegetation.
When the property was purchased the pine regeneration within the forested portion of the Management area averaged 740 ponderosa pine seedlings and saplings per acre with densities reaching 3,534 per acre in some areas (n=8). Because of the wildfire hazard presented by the dense pine regeneration, saplings were immediately thinned on 56 acres of the forest in FY2006 to minimize the probability that catastrophic wildfire would destroy the entire 74.4 acre stand. The Management Plan called for a reduction in overstory density to 5-20 trees per acre for trees 20 inches in diameter or larger to approximate pine open woodland conditions. The thinning was originally scheduled for FY2008; however, it was postponed due to a drop in the market value of timber until August of 2010. The forest harvest was followed by a controlled burn to reduce the slash left from the harvest, reduce fuel loads and stimulate the undergrowth. The last controlled burn was completed in the fall of 2010 (FY2011).
Hydrologic Restoration within the hnt’k’wipn Management Area
Landscape alterations to improve the floodplain storage began with the decommissioning of drain tile under fields where agricultural production was discontinued. Drain tile was known to exist in three fields within the hnt'k'wipn Management Area at the beginning of FY2008. Discussions with neighboring landowners during FY2008 revealed that tile likely existed under two additional fields. Exploratory trenching revealed that the two additional fields were indeed underlain with tile. The main lines of these tile networks, which totaled 2.95 kilometers, were completely removed. Secondary tile lines, which totaled approximately 37.2 kilometers, were dug up to break the continuity of the tile every 40 meters along their length. In total, drain tile was removed or otherwise disrupted within 279.3 acres of hnt'k'wipn.
Figure 3. Location and orientation of drain tile decommissioned in FY2008.
With the drain tile decommissioned, efforts shifted to decommissioning the deep straight line drainage ditches cut into the Hangman / Sheep Creek floodplain within the hnt'k'wipn Management Area. Ditch F, a small ditch identified in the Inter-Fluve Plan (2008) (Figure 4), was filled and decommissioned in FY2009 according to the designs (Inter-Fluve 2008). Preparations for decommissioning Ditch A (Figure 4), which runs straight north to Hangman Creek from the southeastern corner of the Management Area, were also completed in FY2009 as planned (Inter-Fluve 2008). The earthen stockpile generated through providing an alternate flow route for the water carried by Ditch A, which runs from the southeast corner of the hnt'k'wipn Management Area along the eastern boundary of the Management Area to Hangman Creek, is positioned on the west side of lower reaches of Ditch A. Once vegetation is established along the new drainage route, which delivers the water to Sheep Creek by meandering across the flood plain between the current Ditch A and Sheep Creek, the earthen stock pile will be shoved into the lower reaches of the current Ditch A. It is anticipated that Ditch A will be completely decommissioned in the fall of 2012 (FY2013).
Figure 4. Landscape alterations currently underway within the hnt’k’wipn Management Area.
The majority of the new Sheep Creek Channel design (Inter-Fluve 2008) was constructed in FY2010 (Figure 4). However, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Cultural Resource Program discovered a cultural site in the new alignment preventing its completion in FY2010 (Coeur d’Alene Tribe Cultural Resource Office 2011). Tribal archeologists investigated the site beginning in FY2010, but were unable to complete their investigation until 8/19/2011. In addition to the Cultural Resource delay, the spring and summer of 2011 were unusually wet and it was not until September that equipment could be operated without the risk of becoming mired. The 0.4 miles of the new Sheep Creek Channel is opened and connected to the 2.1 miles relic channel that meanders through the adjacent forest. The old Sheep Creek Channel will be blocked with a water filled bladder during the growing season of 2012 to force water through the new alignment and provide water to plantings along the length of the newly constructed channel. The bladder will be removed after the growing season so the current Sheep Creek Channel will carry the bulk of the high waters during winter and early spring. The earthen stock piles will be shoved into the old Sheep Creek Channel as soon as vegetation is established along the new channel and it is stable enough to permanently carry the waters of Sheep Creek.
Vegetation Restoration within the hnt’k’wipn Management Area
A total of 414.8 acres have been planted with native grass seed (Figure 5). Of those acres planted, 210.6 acres are considered established and ready for the next phase of planting native forbs, shrubs, and trees. Ninety five and two tenths acres are establishing but suffer from an infestation of Ventenata dubia and will need mowing treatments. And the one hundred and nine acres planted in the fall of 2011 evidenced poor grass establishment. This last field will be evaluated in FY2012 to determine the appropriate treatment to encourage native grass establishment within that field (for a discussion of grass establishment determination see the proposal segment on Adaptive Management).
Figure 5. Former agricultural fields planted with native grasses.
This Project is just beginning the establishment of shrubs and trees using fenced exclosures to protect nursery areas that will be used to produce cuttings for future planting stock and cattle panels as protection for small groups of plantings. The first nursery, a triangle measuring 300 yards by 300 yards by 424 yards, was established in the spring of 2011. The size of the exclosure proved difficult to manage so the fenced nursery exclosures established in the fall of 2011 were reduced to 100 yard square structures. The nursery established in the spring was planted with a mix of willows (Salix sp.), cottonwood (Populous trichocarpa), and dogwood (Corus stolonifera). The 100 yard square structures will be planted with a similar mix in the spring of 2012. No data is available at this time on survival of the plantings within the exclosures.
Cattle panels are placed in pairs with the centers pulled apart leaving a football shaped exclosure. Once the plants protected by the panels are established the panels will be moved to protect another group of plantings. Two to four plants are placed in each panel structure. Since May of 2010, four groups of cattle panel structures have been established, totaling 48 structures.
Planting stock of native species purchased from local nurseries has, thus far, evidenced high survival rates, typically between 70% to 100%, within the cattle panel structures. Survival rates for cuttings taken from native shrubs and trees in the area have evidenced much lower survival rates, typically 0% to 18% with one outlier group of dogwood evidencing 70% survival. Since cuttings are far less expensive than container plants, protocols are being established to maximize the rates of survival. Initially cuttings were planted using a dibble (McCreary and Techlin 2000). However, low survival rates caused a change in technique. Cuttings are now planted in the fall after soaking in water for 14 days (Tilley and Hoag 2008). Also, hand augers were purchased to plant the cuttings as deep as possible. Nursery stock will be planted in the spring.
Planting shrubs, trees and forbs will increase as the Project shifts further to vegetation restoration. Survival of planting stock and cuttings will be monitored over time to identify techniques that maximize success.
hnt’k’wipn Management Area Habitat Evaluation Procedure Report {D:87 from 8/19/2011}
Field measurements for the baseline Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) were completed in June of 2005 by the Regional HEP Team (RHT). The baseline HEP credited BPA 317.7 HUs using models for the Albeni Falls Target Species. HEP evaluations are ordinarily completed every 5 years so the Regional HEP Team completed field measurements for the second HEP in July of 2010. Albeni Falls Target Species models were applied during the 2010 evaluation to assess changes in habitats in the intervening years. These models could only be applied to 485.3 acres of the property since agricultural production still occurred on 710.4 acres, or 59.4%, of the property. HU production within the habitats suitable for Albeni Falls model application averaged 0.83 HUs per acre for a total of 400.46 HUs. The increase of 82.76 HUs can almost entirely be attributed to the creation of the 305.8 acre Native Grass cover type. While the Native Grass cover type is low in quality, this was the largest covertype to which the Albeni Falls models could be applied and it produced HUs using both the Canada goose and mallard models. The application of the Albeni Falls white-tailed deer model to the Drainage cover type in 2010 produced an additional 22.13 HUs over the 2005 evaluation. This increase is attributable to the natural development of habitat conditions in the absence of disturbance in the intervening years.
HU losses were attributed to the white-tailed deer HSI within the Conifer Forest Covertype. A fuels reduction effort in the understory of the coniferous forest in August and September of 2006 reduced the ladder fuels within that stand in order to minimize the possibility of a stand replacing fire. Ponderosa pine regeneration and decadent shrub growth were removed on approximately 56 acres through both manual labor and mechanical removal. That fuels reduction effort evidently also reduced forage availability for white-tailed deer. It is expected that efforts to increase stand and understory diversity in the wake of an overstory thinning that was completed in August of 2010 will improve forage availability beyond 2005 levels before the next HEP evaluation. Losses of HUs in other cover type categories were only minor and can be attributed to the range of variation in sampling.
While the overall HU production attributed to Albeni Falls Target Species increased by 82.76 HUs in 2010, the average HU produced per acre of habitat where the models were applied decreased from 1.77 HUs per acre to 0.83 HUs per acre. This can be attributed to the relatively low quality of habitat provided to the Albeni Fall Target Species by the Native Grass cover type. However, these areas will progress to include additional vegetation types in the near future as shrubs, trees and forbs are added once the noxious weed issue is reduced to a suitable level
The value of 2.0 HUs per acre was assigned to that portion of the hnt’k’wipn Management Area remaining in agricultural production. The sum total of HUs for both the acreages evaluated using Albeni Falls Target Species Models and the Agriculture Covertype was 1,821.26 HUs, or 1.53 HUs per acre.
Beyond the hnt’k’wipn Management Area
The hnt’k’wipn Management Area has allowed the Project Proponents to establish a restoration process that can be used across the Project Area to effectively restore Priority Areas as quickly as possible. The techniques are being applied across the Project Area to a variety of properties with native habitats in various states of establishment, from the Isom Property in the southeast corner of the Project Area to the Worley Rockpit Property in the North Fork of Rock Creek on the northern portion of the property (Figure 2). Additional properties will be secured as successes are demonstrated.
Ground Water Monitoring {Work Element J:157 from 9/29/2006)
In 2006, three 40 foot deep wells were established at the confluence of Hangman and Sheep Creek. Wells were established during the initial investigations of the EPA funded hydrology study but have since been used to monitor long term trends in ground water. Surprisingly, the water depth in the wells has not varied more than two feet in a given year. The deep nature of the wells did not seem to capture the variation in shallow ground water between wet winter months and the dry season of August and September. To more closely monitor changes in shallow groundwater and thus floodplain storage patterns, 18 shallow groundwater wells were established within the floodplains of the hnt’k’wipn Management Area. The shallow wells are five feet deep and are made from perforated PVC pipe wrapped with weed block to measure static shallow groundwater depth. The wells were established in sets of three placed in rows perpendicular to adjacent stream channels in order to determine if groundwater elevation increases or decreases as distance to stream increases.
The measurement of shallow groundwater depths through the spring summer and fall clearly demonstrates the rapid decline in water within floodplain soils as the growing season progresses (Figure 6). Groundwater elevations are typically at soil surface elevation throughout the winter and early spring months. Groundwater elevation begins to decline as the spring season progresses and it reaches its lowest level in late August, coincident with stream base flows. The full range of groundwater depletion was not represented as groundwater declined beyond 5 feet, below the depths of the shallow wells. However, the rate of change from saturation to base flow was captured. This information provides a baseline against which future groundwater levels can be compared. The future success of the Project implementation will depend on the degree to which ground water depths can be maintained as the dry season progresses.
Figure 6. Average depth of shallow groundwater by two week period measured within the 18 shallow groundwater wells established within the Hangman and Sheep Creek floodplains.
Baseline Data on the Beaver Dam Size, Distribution and Construction Materials in the Hangman Mainstem of the Project Area.
In August of 2009 a survey of the Hangman Mainstem was completed to map the distribution of beaver dams. The primary purpose of the survey was to verify that beaver are distributed throughout the Mainstem and to provide initial data on the size and building materials of beaver dams. Eighty two dams were recorded, 29 were documented downstream from the Hangman/Sheep Creek confluence to the state line, 41 were on the Hangman Mainstem above Sheep Creek, and six were recorded in each of Indian and Sheep Creek. One dam was an outlier recorded on Tensed Creek after the surveys were completed. Beaver dams were dispersed in identifiable clusters near trees and shrubs. Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) was used in dam construction throughout the area surveyed, and it was the primary material used near the Washington/Idaho state boarder. Dams were small, averaging 4.5 dm tall, with a range of 1dm to 14 dm (SD = 2.4), and 42 dm wide, with a range of widths from 7 dm to 115 dm (SD = 23.3). The largest dam was located in Smith Creek and measured 14 dm tall and 115 dm wide.
The low number of dams, their small size and their clustering in the few areas where trees and shrubs are available along Hangman Creek indicate the population is resource limited. Dams are ineffective at storing water for base flows and their small size on the mainstem may be an indication of their inability to withstand high flows. However, the wide distribution of dams through the Hangman Mainstem indicates that beaver are present and could provide the proven benefits (Ruedemann and Schoonmaker 1938, Naiman et al. 1988, Pollock et al. 2003, Rosell et al. 2005, Pollock et al. 2007) if restoration for Hangman is designed to partner with beaver.
Figure 7. Distribution of beaver dams recorded in the Hangman Mainstem, Sheep Creek and Indian Creek in the late summer and fall of 2009.
Assessment Number: | 2001-033-00-NPCC-20210317 |
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Project: | 2001-033-00 - Hangman Creek Fish & Wildlife Restoration |
Review: | 2020 Resident Fish and Sturgeon Project Review |
Approved Date: | 10/27/2020 |
Recommendation: | Implement with Conditions |
Comments: |
Manager address ISRP review conditions in a revised proposal for the project. Additional budget request dependent and linked to the revised proposal. Revised proposal due no later than January 29, 2020. [Background: See https:/www.nwcouncil.org/fw/reviews/2019RFS] |
Assessment Number: | 2001-033-00-ISRP-20210319 |
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Project: | 2001-033-00 - Hangman Creek Fish & Wildlife Restoration |
Review: | 2020 Resident Fish and Sturgeon Project Review |
Completed Date: | None |
Documentation Links: |
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Assessment Number: | 2001-033-00-NPCC-20120313 |
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Project: | 2001-033-00 - Hangman Creek Fish & Wildlife Restoration |
Review: | Resident Fish, Regional Coordination, and Data Management Category Review |
Proposal: | RESCAT-2001-033-00 |
Proposal State: | Pending BPA Response |
Approved Date: | 2/26/2014 |
Recommendation: | Implement |
Comments: | Implement through 2017. |
Assessment Number: | 2001-033-00-ISRP-20120215 |
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Project: | 2001-033-00 - Hangman Creek Fish & Wildlife Restoration |
Review: | Resident Fish, Regional Coordination, and Data Management Category Review |
Proposal Number: | RESCAT-2001-033-00 |
Completed Date: | 4/17/2012 |
Final Round ISRP Date: | 4/3/2012 |
Final Round ISRP Rating: | Meets Scientific Review Criteria |
Final Round ISRP Comment: | |
First Round ISRP Date: | 2/8/2012 |
First Round ISRP Rating: | Meets Scientific Review Criteria |
First Round ISRP Comment: | |
The proposal contains good background information and is well prepared. The project has identified priority habitats and activities. The sponsors have responded to previous ISRP concerns. This is a long-term project the sponsors have provided good results from the initial work. The sponsors are purchasing properties with Avista mitigation money from Albeni Falls, encouraging beaver activity and learning from work in John Day, Coeur d’Alene, and Colorado. One question remains: Is the intent to rebuild resident populations for Tribal harvest or for conservation purposes only? 1. Purpose: Significance to Regional Programs, Technical Background, and Objectives Recovery of redband trout is clearly an appropriate restoration priority, and the efforts implemented under this project to date have been focused in areas that are high priority for these fish in the Hangman Creek watershed. The existing project sites are in riparian areas with potential to contribute to groundwater recharge and located near existing populations of redband trout. This project is designed to address landscape issues that limit base flow at the streams in the project area and is responsible for landscape restoration as a precursor to the work done in stream and near stream to establish a redband trout fishery. This project was submitted in conjunction with 200103200 which studies instream fish habitats in the same area. The project focuses on increasing base stream flows by obtaining access to land in several ways, such as, land acquisition, conservation easements, leases and landowner agreements. This project provides dual benefits, (1) credits against HU ledger of wildlife habitat lost from Albeni Falls Dam, and (2) crucial habitat for redband trout (NPCC established a resident fish substitution policy in areas blocked from anadromous fish passage). Once restored, stream channels within the mitigation property will expand the isolated redband population in Sheep Creek and increase the probability of that population’s interactions with the other isolated populations of the Upper Hangman Watershed. This Project will focus on monitoring changes in ground water and provide funding for stream flow monitoring. 2. History: Accomplishments, Results, and Adaptive Management (ISRP Review of Results) The project history was described in detail. Restoration efforts target the impaired aquatic and riparian ecosystem processes supported by several citations in a previous limiting factor analysis which included hydraulic modeling. High stream temperatures documented (2004-2007), along with low summer flows, high sediment levels and inadequate DO yielded suboptimal rearing conditions for fish. A genetic analysis of isolated redband trout populations in the project area showed a cohesive group and suggests that historically there was movement among subpopulations in the area. Genetic information now suggests that either substantial inbreeding has occurred or each subpopulation experienced a recent genetic bottleneck. Collectively, results suggest increasing connectivity of tributary subpopulations would promote a more robust and resilient population structure. Also, redband trout are relatively pure in spite of rainbow trout introduced regularly in the Spokane River (1933-2002). 3. Project Relationships, Emerging Limiting Factors, and Tailored Questions for Type of Work (hatchery, RME, tagging) This project is closely related to 200103200 which is the CDA Fisheries Enhancement for the same project area. The ISEMP Bridge Creek Watershed Study provided the direction for addressing large-scale landscape issues associated with entrenched stream channels and low base flows. From 2004 to 2007, high stream temperatures during the spawning/incubation period of early summer (Figure 4) and low flows (e.g., isolated pools and dewatered reaches) coupled with inadequate dissolved oxygen levels (i.e., < 7 mg/L) during summer base flow periods presented suboptimal rearing conditions for redband trout in the lower elevational portions of the Project Area that are heavily impacted by agriculture. These findings join a growing body of evidence that indicate the ubiquitous distribution of the low base flows, lack of oxygen, high summer stream temperatures and high sediment loads in the larger, lower elevation streams of the Project Area have relegated the remnant populations of native redband trout to the isolated, higher elevation, forested stream reaches of the Project Area. The sponsors also recognized issues involving climate change on ground water tables and noxious weeds. They suggest that restoration of natural vegetation along the riparian zone will help offset these issues. A noxious weed issue has been identified in the agricultural lands associated with native vegetation planting, and control measures, including mowing, burning, and herbicides are being evaluated. In addition to the riparian habitat work, they are assisting the beavers with their dams by providing materials suitable for dam construction. 4. Deliverables, Work Elements, Metrics, and Methods Four deliverables were mentioned: (1) Access to priority habitats: some priority land has been acquired, with more needed, (2) Riparian/Floodplain Management: decommissioned artificial drainage networks in the agricultural, (3) Create beaver dams that withstand high flows and persist and (4) Develop indices indicating increase in duration of shallow groundwater storage in flood. Initially, three 40 foot wells were established in 2006 at confluence of Hangman and Sheep Creek where water depth did not vary from year to year. Regarding beaver dams, 82 small dams were found in a 2009 survey, and with improvement of dam material, they believe the dams can store considerably more water for the project. Storing water in the area is believed to be a critically important component of achieving restoration goals, and the ISRP agrees. The ongoing project only completed 71% of the contract deliverables, but many of these failures were due to quarterly reports. Annual reports have been on time. 4a. Specific comments on protocols and methods described in MonitoringMethods.org Data collected for this project is limited because the fish and aquatic habitat RME work is covered in a different project (200103200). But project relationships are clearly described. Data collected for this project includes the success of the establishment of native vegetation planted, beaver dam surveys, and the evaluation of shallow groundwater level at 2-week intervals in 18 shallow wells. Interesting data from these wells was provided in the proposal to illustrate baseline patterns of groundwater loss during summer. A USGS gauging station and several others are used to monitor surface flow. The past ISRP review had concerns about "ongoing pattern of climate and stream flow" not being addressed. The response to this concern was "groundwater modeling” completed in 2007 that demonstrated drain tile removal would assist in maintaining base flows. Also, studies suggest that watershed changes could be brought about with construction and maintenance of beaver dams that would rebuild floodplain connectivity. Earlier, the ISRP had concerns about explaining the difference between this project and the associated fisheries project. The sponsors responded that this project involves landscape level issues that limit in stream fish habitat dealing with agricultural methods, management rights, riparian management, and terrestrial habitat restoration. Other information regarding M&E is covered in the fisheries project. Modified by Dal Marsters on 4/17/2012 2:44:35 PM. |
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Documentation Links: |
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Assessment Number: | 2001-033-00-NPCC-20090924 |
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Project: | 2001-033-00 - Hangman Creek Fish & Wildlife Restoration |
Review: | FY07-09 Solicitation Review |
Approved Date: | 10/23/2006 |
Recommendation: | Fund |
Comments: | ISRP fund in part (qualified): fund elements of project except stream channel realignment as per ISRP comment. Budget will have to be adjusted to match funded work elements. Submit conservation easement through the water entity program. |
Assessment Number: | 2001-033-00-ISRP-20060831 |
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Project: | 2001-033-00 - Hangman Creek Fish & Wildlife Restoration |
Review: | FY07-09 Solicitation Review |
Completed Date: | 8/31/2006 |
Final Round ISRP Date: | None |
Final Round ISRP Rating: | Meets Scientific Review Criteria - In Part (Qualified) |
Final Round ISRP Comment: | |
Funding is scientifically justified for land acquisition, conservation easement, riparian management, and M&E only. The qualification is that M&E methods need to be expanded to include fish (even before trout return to the project area, if they do).
This long, disorganized proposal contained much irrelevant material and was exceedingly hard to review. The project might work out in the long term, but the proposal did not give confidence that the effort is being soundly conducted. The response retrieved the situation to some extent. The proposal did not present an adequate strategy for the project. The technical and scientific background was poorly organized and contained much information more suited to the project history. The project is a mix of land purchase and managements; the latter not clearly described. The problems to be dealt with are not clearly defined, and the purpose of the project was not stated until page 6. The "original" project goal (page 6) was: "Protect and/or restore riparian and priority upland habitats . . . to promote healthy, self-sustaining wildlife populations," the present project goal being left unstated. The proposal next says this will involve landscape-level management to complement a companion project (200103200) that deals with fish habitat in the same system. However, the sponsors describe no habitat requirements for wildlife species, allude to little about the area as wildlife habitat, and apparently name wildlife species only once ("monitoring . . . will include parameters on land birds, waterfowl, bald eagles, small mammals, herpetofauna"). Instead, it delves more into matters of fish and streams, including a section on "Native Fish Habitat Protection Work Elements," and even genetic make-up of redband trout. Thus, the project inexplicably changed to deal with both fish and terrestrial wildlife, and to deal with in-stream management, as well as upland and riparian matters. The sponsors do not adequately explain the relationship of this change to Project 200103200, which was to deal with aquatic matters. Significance to the subbasin plan was adequately shown in the proposal. The response's reporting of results was adequate, considering the short duration of the project. The proposal's section F, Biological Objectives, Work Elements and Methods, contains no outline of objectives but is a rambling, partly historical discussion involving various diffuse statements of objective with no clearly listed work elements, and with some intermixture of methods. The ISRP asked for response on the extent to which this project is expected to benefit fish and wildlife, asked how fish and wildlife would use the properties protected by the easements, and commented that the project history section described activities, not results or management implications. A response was needed describing these results and how they have been shown to benefit fish and wildlife. The detailed response augmented the original proposal and clarified the logic behind the effort. As a result, the acquisition and conservation easement portions of the proposal appear justified, although biologically there is some risk. The ISRP asked why no cogent information was provided to indicate that the proposed activities would benefit redband trout, which compose the fish population at issue. The response explained how obtaining easements and promoting riparian vegetation could help reestablish the habitat connectivity that the small, isolated redband populations need. It did not show that the fish need the proposed in-channel restructuring. The proposal mentioned "Enhancement opportunities" in Section F, but techniques to enhance stream channels for trout were not discussed in any useful detail. From the description of work elements, $400K would be used to realign 0.7 miles of Sheep Creek and $400K would be used to change the channel morphology of 2 miles of upper Hangman Creek. Passive restoration appeared not to have been considered in the proposal, and the response indicated judgment that a fully passive approach would not suffice, but that further physical analyses need to be done. The proposed channel work is not yet scientifically justified. Judging scientific soundness is not possible for the large ($600K) program to realign the Sheep Creek channel and change morphology in Hangman Creek. Given more information, such actions might be justified, but the proposal contains insufficient information on this subject to enable a review. If the sponsors undertake a proposal for stream habitat work in a future review cycle, it should draw significantly on the expertise of hydrologists and fluvial geomorphologists, working in conjunction with stream fish ecologists. A problem not covered in the proposal is the unfavorable and apparently ongoing pattern of climate and stream flow, in which high stream flow is occurring earlier in the year and is followed by months of extreme low flow during worsening annual droughts. This does not bode well for re-population by trout from higher elevations into re-created habitat lower in the valley, where the water is already excessively warm in summer. Promoting riparian vegetation could help overcome this problem (and would benefit many forms of wildlife, as well), but the proposed channel restructuring, as described, would not. The ISRP was critical in the past review of this project's lack of M&E, and M&E still was not adequately described in the 2007-2007 proposal either. The response presented detailed material on the M&E plan, which concentrates on terrestrial matters. No M&E elements concerning fish and fish habitat were evident, and this is a major deficiency in view of the project's trend in planned activity toward emphasis on fish habitat. The M&E's aquatic aspects could be improved by more specific linking with the other projects that cover the fish. |
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Documentation Links: |
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ID | Title | Type | Period | Contract | Uploaded |
00009210-1 | Hangman Restoration Project | Progress (Annual) Report | 08/2001 - 07/2002 | 9210 | 9/27/2002 12:00:00 AM |
00009210-2 | Hangman Restoration Project | Progress (Annual) Report | 08/2002 - 09/2003 | 9210 | 10/1/2003 12:00:00 AM |
00024595-1 | Hangman Creek Wildlife Project | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2005 - 09/2006 | 24595 | 1/1/2007 12:00:00 AM |
P103038 | Upper Hangman Creek Baseline HEP Survey | HEP Report | - | 8/3/2007 4:49:30 PM | |
P104138 | Fiscal Year 2006 Annual Report | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2005 - 09/2006 | 29020 | 10/19/2007 9:04:41 AM |
P104706 | The Hangman Restoration Project, FY2007 Year End, Progress Report | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2006 - 09/2007 | 35067 | 11/30/2007 10:57:08 AM |
P106704 | hnt'k'wipn Management Plan | Management Plan | - | 39739 | 5/22/2008 10:55:58 AM |
P107595 | T331 Selective Harvest Environmental Assessment | Other | - | 35067 | 8/4/2008 2:41:42 PM |
P108997 | FY2008 Annual Report for the Hangman Restoration Project | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2007 - 09/2008 | 39739 | 11/12/2008 4:17:31 PM |
P108998 | Inter-Fluve 2008 Designs for Sheep Creek Realignment and Ditch Decommissioning | Other | - | 35067 | 11/13/2008 9:01:12 AM |
P114893 | Hangman Restoration Project FY2004 Annual Report | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2003 - 09/2004 | 22364 | 1/15/2010 2:23:59 PM |
P114912 | Hangman Restoration Project | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2004 - 09/2005 | 24595 | 1/19/2010 1:07:25 PM |
P117194 | Hangman Restoration Project, 2008 - 2009 | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2008 - 09/2009 | 44311 | 7/19/2010 8:54:06 AM |
P120155 | Hangman Restoration Project; October 2009 - September 2010 | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2009 - 09/2010 | 49588 | 2/25/2011 2:33:56 PM |
P120157 | Interim Report on the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's FY2010 Archaeological Findings within the Sheep Creek Realignment | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2009 - 09/2010 | 49588 | 2/25/2011 2:44:14 PM |
P123556 | Prioritization Area Selection within the Hangman Watershed of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation | Other | - | 49588 | 10/31/2011 12:03:59 PM |
P123794 | hnt'k'wipn 2010 Habitat Evaluation Procedure Report | Other | - | 49588 | 11/17/2011 8:52:49 AM |
P123797 | Physical Habitat and Tempurature in Hangman Creek, Idaho: Final Report | Other | - | 54815 | 11/17/2011 11:07:05 AM |
P123822 | 2007 Ground Water Model of the Hangman Creek - Sheep Creek Drainage Area | Other | - | 29020 | 11/18/2011 3:39:28 PM |
P123823 | Inter-Fluve 2006 Hangman and Sheep Creek Stabilization Alternatives Analysis | Other | - | 24595 | 11/18/2011 4:05:12 PM |
P127323 | Hangman Restoration Project; 10/10 - 9/11 | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2010 - 09/2011 | 54815 | 7/12/2012 3:46:03 PM |
P131520 | Hangman Wildlife Restoration FY2012 Annual Report | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2011 - 09/2012 | 59395 | 4/1/2013 12:15:30 PM |
P139074 | Upper Hangman Creek 2010 Follow-up HEP Report | HEP Report | - | 8/7/2014 8:36:44 AM | |
P150850 | Hangman Restoration Wildlife Project Habitat Restoration; 10/14 - 9/15 | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2014 - 09/2015 | 70503 | 11/30/2016 12:46:41 PM |
P154941 | Hangman Restoration Wildlife Project Habitat Restoration; 10/15 - 9/16 | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2015 - 09/2016 | 74151 | 6/13/2017 1:05:25 PM |
P160916 | Hangman Restoration Wildlife Project Habitat Restoration; 10/16 - 9/17 | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2016 - 09/2017 | 76952 | 6/25/2018 9:57:55 AM |
P167790 | Hangman Restoration Wildlife Project; 10/17 - 9/18 | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2017 - 09/2018 | 76828 REL 3 | 9/23/2019 9:09:52 AM |
P169886 | Hangman Restoration Wildlife Project; 10/18 - 9/19 | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2018 - 09/2019 | 76828 REL 7 | 1/6/2020 2:21:13 PM |
P174937 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174938 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174939 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174940 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174941 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174942 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174943 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174944 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174945 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174946 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174947 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174948 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174949 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174950 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174951 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174952 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174953 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174954 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174955 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P174956 | Hangman Restoration Project | Photo | - | 5/7/2020 5:44:05 PM | |
P195879 | Land Exchange Briefing Notes | Other | - | 76828 REL 25 | 11/23/2022 10:30:33 AM |
P203876 | Hangman Restoration FY2022 Annual Report | Progress (Annual) Report | 10/2021 - 09/2022 | 76828 REL 25 | 9/28/2023 1:14:22 PM |
Project Relationships: |
This project Merged To 2001-032-00 effective on 10/1/2024
Relationship Description: 2001-033-00 will merge into 2001-032-00. Administrative costs will be handled by the single contract. The merge is a contract management efficiency and was part of the MOA signed on 2/22/24. |
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Additional Relationships Explanation:
BPA Project #2001-032-00 - The Coeur d’Alene Fisheries Enhancement: Hangman Watershed
Project #2001-032-00 strives to increase redband trout populations by improving in-habitats in the Hangman Watershed. It has mapped the extent of redband populations, estimated their abundance and assisted in identifying limiting factors for populations. The Project monitors redband populations and restores habitats in and adjacent to the streams important to the remnant redband populations. BPA Project #2001-032-00 lacks terrestrial habitat protection and restoration components to address the landscape scale constraints to redband distribution. Project #2001-033-00 is intended to pursue conservation easements, long term leases or fee title acquisitions and complete subsequent landscape level restoration to increase in-stream flows to expand native resident redband trout in the Hangman Watershed.
BPA # 1990-044-00 - Implement Fisheries Enhancement on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation
Project #1990-044-00 monitors fish populations and habitats, and has completed extensive habitat restoration activities in Lake, Benewah, Evans and Alder Creeks; which are the Tribe’s four target tributaries in the Coeur d’Alene Subbasin. The extensive experience gained by the Tribe through BPA #1990-044-00 can be drawn upon to more readily identify restoration strategies that can be successfully employed at low costs and with high efficiencies in the Spokane Subbasin portion of the Reservation.
BPA Project #1992-961-06 - The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Albeni Falls Mitigation Project
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe has successfully purchased 3,590 acres on the Reservation as mitigation for Albeni Falls Dam wildlife losses. Albeni Falls wildlife mitigation target habitats include riparian corridors, wetlands, floodplains and scrub-shrub habitats. The Tribe has used Albeni Falls wildlife mitigation to purchase lands that also provide access and protection to fish habitats. The hnt’k’wipn Management Area in the Hangman Creek Watershed is one instance of an overlap between wildlife mitigation and resident fish substitution. Project #2001-033-00 used Albeni Falls mitigation capital funding to acquire this 1,195 acre property in FY2005. The Management Area credits against the Albeni Falls construction and inundation loss ledger and encompasses habitats important to native redband populations. The hnt’k’wipn Management Area provides an opportunity to expand the redband trout populations through restoration efforts designed to achieve dual objectives of wildlife mitigation and resident fish substitution.
BPA # 2008-007-00 - Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT) Monitoring and Evaluation Program
Project #2008-007-00 compares species, guild, and vegetation data gathered from Albeni Falls mitigation properties to species abundance and distribution, and habitat conditions at reference sites or to desired future conditions. Information is used to adaptively manage each Albeni Falls mitigation property and to evaluate techniques used to manage each area and habitat type. Protocols were developed using the Albeni Falls Dam Wildlife Monitoring and Evaluation Plan through work completed by the Kalispel Tribe. The Project implements a regional approach to M&E for mitigation lands managed by the five members of UCUT. Since Project #2001-033-00 purchased and manages lands for Albeni Falls wildlife mitigation (i.e. the hnt’k’wipn Management Area), Project #2008-007-00, will complete monitoring and evaluation measures on those lands.
BPA #2009-010-00 – Coeur d’Alene Tribe Coordination
Project #2009-010-00 is intended to continue the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s involvement in regional as well as local forums. Coordination practices include communication and collaboration on regional issues specific to the Northwest Power Act through interactions with NPCC, BPA and UCUT. Any regional issues that arise that may impact Project #2001-033-00 will be addressed and coordinated through Project #2009-010-00.
BPA #2003-017-00 – Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program
While ISEMP is anadromous fish oriented, its work in identifying effective and economically feasible methods to improve fish habitats is proving invaluable to substitution efforts in the Hangman Watershed. The research in the Bridge Creek Intensively Monitored Watershed, in particular, is providing much of the direction for addressing the large scale, landscape issues of entrenched stream channels and low base flows on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. The experiments in partnering with beaver in restoration provide the central guidance in submitting this Project proposal. The staff of Project #2001-033-00 will continue to closely monitor ISEMP results and interact with ISEMP staff to improve Project implementation.
Avista Corporation – Spokane River Hydroelectric Project
In 2009, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a 50-year operating license to Avista for the Post Falls Hydro-Electric Dam (PFHED) in the Spokane River Subbasin. The hydroelectric license included mandatory provisions for protecting and enhancing the Tribe’s natural and cultural resources and for compensating the Tribe for PFHED’s use of its lands and waters. Specific license conditions require Avista to restore or replace at least 1,368 acres of wetland and riparian habitats within or adjacent to the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation. The Prioritization Plan developed by Project #2001-033-00 (Green et al. 2011) identified parcels within the Hangman Watershed that encompass degraded habitats that can potentially serve to accomplish Avista mitigation. In FY2011, three properties were purchased in the Hangman Watershed as part of the Avista licensing requirements, and additional property purchases are planned. These properties hold the potential to help achieve Project #2001-033-00 benchmarks for improving floodplain storage and increased base flows. While Avista wildlife mitigation and BPA substitution efforts can complement each other, they cannot overlap. BPA substitution efforts within the Hangman Watershed cannot interfere with Avista mitigation, nor will redband restoration be completed in-lieu of Avista responsibilities (Power Act 4(h)(10)(A), 2009 Program Amendments, Basinwide Provisions, p. 7).
Coeur d’Alene Tribe Water Resources Program
The Water Resources Program is responsible for watershed planning within the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. The Program conducts baseline monitoring, peak flow monitoring, non-point source planning and management, and is working with EPA to develop a TMDL for the Hangman Creek within Reservation boundaries. The Program is also involved with water rights adjudication, which includes ensuring the Tribe maintains the senior water right in the Hangman Watershed.
Tribal Wildlife Grant - USFWS
In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funded the “Identification of Potential sk’waqhlu’ (Sharp-tailed Grouse) Habitat on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation”. Project objectives include defining upland sharp-tail grouse habitat potential within the Reservation which will provide guidance to restoration activities and input to any hydrologic modeling efforts for Hangman Watershed streams.
Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP)
In September of 2005, the Tribe completed an IRMP with funding assistance from the USEPA General Assistance Program, USDI Bureau of Indian Affairs, Administration for Native Americans, and Department of Health and Human Services. The Tribe’s Natural Resources Department took the lead on the project, with all Tribal programs and departments participating in the process. The Plan’s main purpose was to create a common vision for future use and sustainability of Tribal natural and cultural resources. The Plan provides a means to coordinate the management of tribal natural, environmental and cultural resources. Direct benefit will come to this Project through adoption of standards and guidelines for the protection of fish and wildlife resources, and through identification and remediation of conflicting management practices. The IRMP is the first Tribal management plan to encompass all natural and cultural resources on the Reservation.
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
The Natural Resource Conservation Service is the technical advisor for the CRP and Continuous CRP that are administered by the Farm Service Agency. #2001-033-00 has partnered with the NRCS/FSA on 2 properties within the Hydrologic Priority Area defined in the Project Area Prioritization Plan (Green et al. 2011). While there is substantive resistance to widespread implementation of this strategy, there remains ample opportunity to improve native habitats through this partnership.
Inter-Governmental Watershed Planning Efforts
In the State of Washington, the Spokane Conservation District (SCD) and the Washington Department of Ecology developed the 2009 TMDL for the Washington portion of Hangman Creek. Washington restoration objectives for Hangman were developed by the SCD with input from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. Project #2001-033-00 interacts with the SCD on many levels and has, for FY2012, taken over the contract with the USGS to operate the State Line Gauging Station on Hangman Creek. Project #2001-033-00 was able to continue the gauging station operation with funds generated through the management of the hnt’k’wipn Management Area. Data provided by the gauging station will be important in determining the effects of the Tribe’s restoration efforts. In 2007, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality produced a TMDL for the Hangman Watershed upstream and east of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. The Staff of Project #2001-033-00, along with Tribal Water Resource Staff participated in the TMDL development and the resulting document includes data, findings and strategies that are consistent with the Tribe’s efforts to improve Hangman streams.
Name (Identifier) | Area Type | Source for Limiting Factor Information | |
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Type of Location | Count | ||
Upper Hangman Creek (1701030601) | HUC 5 | QHA (Qualitative Habitat Assessment) | 6 |
Middle Hangman Creek (1701030602) | HUC 5 | QHA (Qualitative Habitat Assessment) | 5 |
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Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation + Data Management |
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Project Deliverables | How the project deliverables help meet this objective* |
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Access to Priority Habitats (DELV-1) | Access to priority habitats via any of the described processes (or via other processes if any additional mechanisms are discovered) must be obtained before any landscape alterations or habitat restoration can occur. Gaining access to priority habitats has always been a major objective of this project since nothing can be done to improve habitats within the Hangman Watershed without the legal right to do so. Once access is gained, restoration of the landscape, habitats and various processes that form a functioning floodplain system can proceed. Restoring a properly functioning floodplain will not only achieve the desired floodplain storage changes but offer the highest probability of increasing base flows as well. |
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Riparian/Floodplain Management (DELV-2) | Currently, streams within the low elevational floodplains of the Project Area are deeply entrenched (3-8 feet throughout the Project Area). Floodplains are altered with deep drainage ditches that are linear and carry water the shortest distance to the nearest entrenched stream. Drain tiles have been installed throughout the floodplains of the Project Area valley bottoms. Restoring native habitats to the floodplain will increase the infiltration rates and decommissioning the various artificial drainage networks will slow the water's downstream movement. The greater ease of infiltration and slower drainage will result in increased floodplain storage and longer duration of groundwater availability. |
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Beaver Dams that withstand High Flows and Persist from Year to Year (DELV-3) | Beaver dams that persist and are of substantial size will slow high water movement through the system and promote hyporheic exchange with adjacent floodplains. The surface water stored behind a beaver dam is only the visible portion of a larger pool of water that encompasses the adjacent floodplain as well. As long as a dam can persist through periods of high flow it will slow the movement of water and facilitate floodplain storage. |
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Project Deliverables | How the project deliverables help meet this objective* |
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Indices indicating an increase in the duration of shallow groundwater storage in the floodplain (DELV-4) | More shallow groundwater remaining within the floodplain through the dry season is an indication that more water is available for slow release into the streams resulting in an increase in baseflow. |
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Project Deliverables | How the project deliverables help meet this objective* |
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Project Deliverable | Start | End | Budget |
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Access to Priority Habitats (DELV-1) | 2013 | 2017 | $212,665 |
Riparian/Floodplain Management (DELV-2) | 2013 | 2017 | $1,787,335 |
Beaver Dams that withstand High Flows and Persist from Year to Year (DELV-3) | 2013 | 2017 | $50,000 |
Indices indicating an increase in the duration of shallow groundwater storage in the floodplain (DELV-4) | 2013 | 2017 | $28,000 |
Total | $2,078,000 |
Fiscal Year | Proposal Budget Limit | Actual Request | Explanation of amount above FY2012 |
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2013 | $386,033 | Salaries were averaged across all years to determine the total budget, but were changed incrementally per year for the line item budget to allow for cost of living increases. | |
2014 | $400,095 | ||
2015 | $414,862 | ||
2016 | $430,366 | ||
2017 | $446,644 | ||
Total | $0 | $2,078,000 |
Item | Notes | FY 2013 | FY 2014 | FY 2015 | FY 2016 | FY 2017 |
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Personnel | $225,000 | $236,250 | $248,063 | $260,466 | $273,489 | |
Travel | $800 | $800 | $800 | $800 | $800 | |
Prof. Meetings & Training | $1,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 | |
Vehicles | $15,000 | $15,000 | $15,000 | $15,000 | $15,000 | |
Facilities/Equipment | (See explanation below) | $25,000 | $25,000 | $25,000 | $25,000 | $25,000 |
Rent/Utilities | $8,000 | $8,000 | $8,000 | $8,000 | $8,000 | |
Capital Equipment | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
Overhead/Indirect | Calculated at 25% | $68,700 | $71,512 | $74,466 | $77,567 | $80,822 |
Other | Easement Acquisitions | $42,533 | $42,533 | $42,533 | $42,533 | $42,533 |
PIT Tags | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
Total | $386,033 | $400,095 | $414,862 | $430,366 | $446,644 |
Assessment Number: | 2001-033-00-ISRP-20120215 |
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Project: | 2001-033-00 - Hangman Creek Fish & Wildlife Restoration |
Review: | Resident Fish, Regional Coordination, and Data Management Category Review |
Proposal Number: | RESCAT-2001-033-00 |
Completed Date: | 4/17/2012 |
Final Round ISRP Date: | 4/3/2012 |
Final Round ISRP Rating: | Meets Scientific Review Criteria |
Final Round ISRP Comment: | |
First Round ISRP Date: | 2/8/2012 |
First Round ISRP Rating: | Meets Scientific Review Criteria |
First Round ISRP Comment: | |
The proposal contains good background information and is well prepared. The project has identified priority habitats and activities. The sponsors have responded to previous ISRP concerns. This is a long-term project the sponsors have provided good results from the initial work. The sponsors are purchasing properties with Avista mitigation money from Albeni Falls, encouraging beaver activity and learning from work in John Day, Coeur d’Alene, and Colorado. One question remains: Is the intent to rebuild resident populations for Tribal harvest or for conservation purposes only? 1. Purpose: Significance to Regional Programs, Technical Background, and Objectives Recovery of redband trout is clearly an appropriate restoration priority, and the efforts implemented under this project to date have been focused in areas that are high priority for these fish in the Hangman Creek watershed. The existing project sites are in riparian areas with potential to contribute to groundwater recharge and located near existing populations of redband trout. This project is designed to address landscape issues that limit base flow at the streams in the project area and is responsible for landscape restoration as a precursor to the work done in stream and near stream to establish a redband trout fishery. This project was submitted in conjunction with 200103200 which studies instream fish habitats in the same area. The project focuses on increasing base stream flows by obtaining access to land in several ways, such as, land acquisition, conservation easements, leases and landowner agreements. This project provides dual benefits, (1) credits against HU ledger of wildlife habitat lost from Albeni Falls Dam, and (2) crucial habitat for redband trout (NPCC established a resident fish substitution policy in areas blocked from anadromous fish passage). Once restored, stream channels within the mitigation property will expand the isolated redband population in Sheep Creek and increase the probability of that population’s interactions with the other isolated populations of the Upper Hangman Watershed. This Project will focus on monitoring changes in ground water and provide funding for stream flow monitoring. 2. History: Accomplishments, Results, and Adaptive Management (ISRP Review of Results) The project history was described in detail. Restoration efforts target the impaired aquatic and riparian ecosystem processes supported by several citations in a previous limiting factor analysis which included hydraulic modeling. High stream temperatures documented (2004-2007), along with low summer flows, high sediment levels and inadequate DO yielded suboptimal rearing conditions for fish. A genetic analysis of isolated redband trout populations in the project area showed a cohesive group and suggests that historically there was movement among subpopulations in the area. Genetic information now suggests that either substantial inbreeding has occurred or each subpopulation experienced a recent genetic bottleneck. Collectively, results suggest increasing connectivity of tributary subpopulations would promote a more robust and resilient population structure. Also, redband trout are relatively pure in spite of rainbow trout introduced regularly in the Spokane River (1933-2002). 3. Project Relationships, Emerging Limiting Factors, and Tailored Questions for Type of Work (hatchery, RME, tagging) This project is closely related to 200103200 which is the CDA Fisheries Enhancement for the same project area. The ISEMP Bridge Creek Watershed Study provided the direction for addressing large-scale landscape issues associated with entrenched stream channels and low base flows. From 2004 to 2007, high stream temperatures during the spawning/incubation period of early summer (Figure 4) and low flows (e.g., isolated pools and dewatered reaches) coupled with inadequate dissolved oxygen levels (i.e., < 7 mg/L) during summer base flow periods presented suboptimal rearing conditions for redband trout in the lower elevational portions of the Project Area that are heavily impacted by agriculture. These findings join a growing body of evidence that indicate the ubiquitous distribution of the low base flows, lack of oxygen, high summer stream temperatures and high sediment loads in the larger, lower elevation streams of the Project Area have relegated the remnant populations of native redband trout to the isolated, higher elevation, forested stream reaches of the Project Area. The sponsors also recognized issues involving climate change on ground water tables and noxious weeds. They suggest that restoration of natural vegetation along the riparian zone will help offset these issues. A noxious weed issue has been identified in the agricultural lands associated with native vegetation planting, and control measures, including mowing, burning, and herbicides are being evaluated. In addition to the riparian habitat work, they are assisting the beavers with their dams by providing materials suitable for dam construction. 4. Deliverables, Work Elements, Metrics, and Methods Four deliverables were mentioned: (1) Access to priority habitats: some priority land has been acquired, with more needed, (2) Riparian/Floodplain Management: decommissioned artificial drainage networks in the agricultural, (3) Create beaver dams that withstand high flows and persist and (4) Develop indices indicating increase in duration of shallow groundwater storage in flood. Initially, three 40 foot wells were established in 2006 at confluence of Hangman and Sheep Creek where water depth did not vary from year to year. Regarding beaver dams, 82 small dams were found in a 2009 survey, and with improvement of dam material, they believe the dams can store considerably more water for the project. Storing water in the area is believed to be a critically important component of achieving restoration goals, and the ISRP agrees. The ongoing project only completed 71% of the contract deliverables, but many of these failures were due to quarterly reports. Annual reports have been on time. 4a. Specific comments on protocols and methods described in MonitoringMethods.org Data collected for this project is limited because the fish and aquatic habitat RME work is covered in a different project (200103200). But project relationships are clearly described. Data collected for this project includes the success of the establishment of native vegetation planted, beaver dam surveys, and the evaluation of shallow groundwater level at 2-week intervals in 18 shallow wells. Interesting data from these wells was provided in the proposal to illustrate baseline patterns of groundwater loss during summer. A USGS gauging station and several others are used to monitor surface flow. The past ISRP review had concerns about "ongoing pattern of climate and stream flow" not being addressed. The response to this concern was "groundwater modeling” completed in 2007 that demonstrated drain tile removal would assist in maintaining base flows. Also, studies suggest that watershed changes could be brought about with construction and maintenance of beaver dams that would rebuild floodplain connectivity. Earlier, the ISRP had concerns about explaining the difference between this project and the associated fisheries project. The sponsors responded that this project involves landscape level issues that limit in stream fish habitat dealing with agricultural methods, management rights, riparian management, and terrestrial habitat restoration. Other information regarding M&E is covered in the fisheries project. Modified by Dal Marsters on 4/17/2012 2:44:35 PM. |
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