Lower Icicle Creek Habitat Conservation

The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust acquired a 6.45 acre parcel on Lower Icicle Creek to preserve high quality riparian habitat and spawning areas identified in the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Plan, Biological Strategy, and Watershed plans for protection. The Upper Columbia Recovery Plan states that “the highest priority for protecting biological productivity should be to allow unrestricted stream channel migration, complexity, and flood plain function. The principal means to meet this objective is to protect riparian habitat in Category 1 and 2 subwatersheds.” Icicle Creek is a Category 2 Watershed, a Minor Spawning Area for spring Chinook salmon, a Major Spawning Area for steelhead, and a Core Area for bull trout. The Recovery Plan also sets the Tier 3 Strategy for Icicle Creek to “protect existing riparian habitat and channel migration and floodplain function.”

The property is largely in the floodplain and has 1,350 feet of frontage on Icicle Creek, an important corridor for migration, adult holding, juvenile rearing, and overwintering. Co-sponsor Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife took title to the property and will manage the property for salmon habitat protection and anglers on foot. As part of the project, CDLT and the Cascade Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group installed a signage kiosk with educational information about native fish in Icicle Creek and the salmon life cycle. There is also a sign about how users and Icicle Creek property owners can use the Creek without damaging the habitat. This site provides a rare needed opportunuity for public access to Icicle Creek, where almost all of the property below the the Hatchery is in private ownership.

Protect functioning floodplain habitat