Lapwai-Bedrock Implementation

The Nez Perce Soil and Water Conservation District (NPSWCD) will complete habitat treatments at two sites within the Clearwater Subbasin, on Bedrock and Sweetwater Creeks. Current habitat conditions at both sites include lack of woody material, lack of riparian vegetation, a partially disengaged floodplain, elevated water temperatures, and lack of juvenile steelhead refugia.



Site 1 includes instream habitat treatments on a 0.61 mile segment of Bedrock Creek, a tributary to the Clearwater River. Project actions include: 1) installation of wood instream through wood seeding and log jams, 2) removal of old road fill upstream of the county bridge that partially prevents the stream from fully flowing under the bridge (this action is found under the metrics as ‘Channel Bed restored’), 3) weed control of blackberries along the stream corridor, and 4) seeding of upland soil exposed during construction.



Site 2 includes instream habitat treatments for 0.43 miles along Sweetwater Creek, a tributary to Lapwai Creek within the Clearwater Subbasin. Project actions include: 1) installation of wood instream through wood seeding, Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs), and Post Assisted wood structures (PALs; both BDAs and PALs are under the metric for ‘Other Engineered Structures’).

2) berm removal, and 3) seeding of upland soil exposed during construction.



Installation of wood structures in priority steelhead stream segments will provide instream habitat complexity through pool creation and rearing cover, slow stream velocity, trap debris, and improve meadow function by raising water tables. The design phase for this project was funded through PCSRF 012 22 CW. In addition, PCSRF 014 22 CW funded instream habitat treatments in a 0.54-mile stream reach adjacent and upstream of the Bedrock stream segment proposed for work.

Improving the project sites through placement of wood structures will increase the streams processes and function. Developing habitat complexity in the form of woody debris structures will improve survival of juveniles in summer rearing months and overwintering. The proposed project actions address the juvenile steelhead summer and overwintering life stages through the development of instream habitat, improved floodplain diversity and connectivity, and hydrologic improvements.