SQ Creek Aquatic Organism Passage Improvement Project

The SQ Creek Aquatic Organism Passage Improvement Project will replace two complete fish barriers with bridges to restore fish passage for all life stages of resident, fluvial, and anadromous fish. SQ Creek is a tributary to the Salmon River in rural Idaho near the town of North Fork. This is a collaborative project with Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Upper Salmon Basin Watershed Program, and the Salmon-Challis National Forest. SQ Creek is a large and important tributary to Idaho’s Salmon River, and is designated as critical habitat for Snake River Chinook Salmon and steelhead, and Columbia Basin Bull trout. Two corrugated metal pipes located less than 300’ apart at the mouth of SQ Creek have resulted in 9.5 miles of habitat being inaccessible to all life stages (both juvenile and adult). The crossings are undersized, poorly aligned, and result in deleterious effects to the habitat conditions. Once implemented, almost 10 miles of habitat will be reconnected for all life stages of fish. This is one of the last few remaining tributaries to the Salmon River on Salmon-Challis National Forest administered lands that lacks connectivity at the mouth.

The goal of the SQ Creek Aquatic Organism Passage Improvement Project is to replace two fish barriers in SQ Creek with bridges to restore fish passage for all life stages of resident, fluvial, and anadromous fish. Project outcomes are to effectively provide aquatic organism passage into SQ Creek. This is critical for endangered fish species in the Salmon River Basin due to the creeks’ unaltered state upstream of the culverts, and cold water refugia during the summer months when the Salmon River reached lethal temperatures for cold water fish species. Providing access to SQ Creek will also provide spawning and rearing habitat for Chinook salmon, steelhead, Westslope Cutthroat trout, and bull trout. The intent is to ensure that the cross sections of the constructed bedforms match those in the reference reach of the creek. Reconnection will also allow isolated fish populations to express fluvial life histories.