Sears Creek Fish Passage

This project proposed to address two fish passage barrier culverts in Sears Creek, which is a tributary to the South Fork Clearwater River. One undersized culvert would open 0.04 miles of stream to the next barrier. The second undersized culvert would open 3.96 miles of stream for steelhead. The project was successful at producing two engineering designs, one for the removal of a culvert and one for a replacement culvert under a county road. The designs were used to obtain a permit for both sites. Cultural resource review was obtained.

After the 2019 spring flooding in Idaho County, the county road department realigned priorities to address the flood concerns. Their current priorities do not include Sears Creek and thus Idaho Clearwater Soil and Water Conservation District was unable to move forward with the project.

This project will address the limiting factors of fine sediment and fish passage through the removal of two fish passage barriers and open 4.0 miles of habitat for steelhead.