Implementation of Channel Rehabilitation on Hoopa Reservation FY2014 Major Construction - Phase 2

Project implementation resulted in immediate short-term habitat creation in support of long-term natural physical and biological stream process. This project provided immediate complexity to channel reaches constructed in project HOOPA-2014-1 through placement of large wood elements: douglas fir stems of 18-inch dbh and greater with root wads attached keyed into banks with ballast rock and backfill; free-floating douglas fir stems greater than 18-inch dbh and 20-feet in length placed into the large side-channel pond; large wood elements were incorporated (placed) throughout floodplain areas, in locations where additional wood will likely be captured when transported into the reach from above. Also provided in this project were coarse cobble and small boulder “skeletal bars” at newly-constructed cross-over riffles. Selected log placements were planted with a mix of willow species along landward margins, to enhance complexity and ecological function of immediately adjacent riparian habitat.

Through these recovery actions, the quality and quantity of salmonid habitat in Supply Creek was increased, helping to restore coho salmon and other salmonids in the Trinity Basin. From a watershed-wide perspective, restoration of the valley floor reach of Supply Creek provides substantial low-gradient winter rearing habitat for both natal and non-natal salmonids in the Trinity Basin. The Hoopa Valley Tribal Roads Department completed the Supply Creek Restoration Project as outlined in the design documentation provided to NOAA Fisheries. Oversight and project management was provided throughout by Hoopa Tribal Fisheries, NMFS, Trinity Valley Consulting Engineers, and CDFW staff.

The goal of the project is to implement a restoration project to improve anadromous fish habitat on a stream located on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation and implement priority actions outlined in the 2012 Draft Southern Oregon Northern California Coho Salmon Recovery Plan. Project benefits included lowering of streamside surfaces, previously built up to straighten and contain the streamcourse by Army Corps of Engineers in mid-1960s, to afford natural hydraulic forces the opportunity to create complex channel forms. By constructing a new, wider streamcourse through the project reach, natural fluvial processes will again create a diversity of physical habitat features such as floodplains, riffles, runs and pools. In concert with this, construction of a new side channel which incorporates a substantial pond (up to 8 feet in depth) is intended to provide over-winter habitat for SONCC coho.

Supplemental funds provided through this project were used to acquire and place large wood within the active channel in newly-constructed habitats, thereby increasing habitat complexity and carrying capacity for juvenile salmonids. At the same time, large wood incorporated to the sites through this project will be useful as escape cover for Chinook, Coho and steelhead spawners.