CTUIR Ceded Area Subbasin Priority Natural Resource Acquisitions

The project applies to the CTUIR ceded area subbasins (Umatilla, Walla Walla, Tucannon, Grande Ronde & John Day) focusing on water, land, and resource acquisitions to protect and/or restore ecological and physical processes important to aquatic Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed species and other native aquatic species important to CTUIR. Priority stream acquisition and conservation reaches were selected based largely on past planning (NPCC Subbasin Plans, ESA Recovery Plans, etc) and consistent with the CTUIR River Vision which emphasizes natural floodplain function.

This project enabled the restoration and protection on an approximately 2,600-acre parcel donated to the Umatilla Tribes. This restoration is protected in perpetuity via a conservation easement held on the property by the Blue Mountain Land Trust. As a result of being able to complete the restoration and protection at worksite #1 for less than anticipated, the remaining balance was applied to a second worksite, on the Touchet River in Washington State. These funds were used to begin the restoration and protection of 175 acres of floodplain on the Touchet River Ranch, which contains three contiguous miles of both sides of the Touchet River. CTUIR is in the process of restoring this property and permanently protecting it with a conservation easement.

Specific project accomplishments include the following.

Worksite 1 (McCoy and Meadow Creeks):

Completed a conservation easement with Blue Mountain Trust that protected 1.75 miles of McCoy Creek and 3 miles of Meadow Creek (2600 acres total).

Hand-thinned 100 acres of forest (predominantly ponderosa pine) to restore forest health and reduce wildfire threat.

Worksite 2 (Touchet River Ranch):

Protected streamside habitat through purchase on 3 miles of the Touchet River (6 miles of streambank, 175 acres total).

Benefits will be achieved through the protection and restoration of natural physical and ecological processes and resulting habitat and water quality improvements. Impacts from development and resource extraction actions that might degrade aquatic habitats and limit fish production will be eliminated. ESA species: summer steelhead and bull trout; other species: spring Chinook, coho salmon, pacific lamprey, freshwater mussels, and other miscellaneous resident fish.