Dammerman East Fork Potlatch Steelhead Habitat Restoration

The Dammerman East Fork Potlatch Steelhead Habitat Restoration treated 0.56 mile of the East Fork Potlatch River within a privately owned meadow. The project improved instream spawning and rearing habitat for ESA listed steelhead by increasing habitat complexity, promoting floodplain connectivity, and initiating development of a riparian forest buffer. This was accomplished by treating 0.56 miles instream by installing 12 instream large wood structures, comprised of individual logs (anchored), logjams and root wads, deflectors/barbs, and other engineered structures. These structures will slow flow and improve access for the river to inundate floodplain and promote lateral habitat. Twelve pools are expected to scour. Ten acres of riparian habitat and 0.56 river miles of the riparian zone were planted with a diverse combination of native grass and forb seeds and native conifer and deciduous trees and shrubs. An existing water gap/cattle crossing was narrowed, fenced, and hardened.

The proposed project length, creation of instream pools, channel bed restoration and addition of meanders were not included in the final design in order to stay within the project budget.

The Dammerman project will rehabilitate a straightened and degraded reach, improve juvenile rearing habitat, and ultimately increase steelhead production in this watershed. The Dammerman project area is located approximately 1.75 miles east of Bovill, Idaho on the East Fork of the Potlatch River, a tributary in the Clearwater River basin. Steelhead in the Clearwater River basin were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act as part of the Snake River Distinct Population Segment (DPS). The lower Clearwater population of steelhead is genetically distinct from other wild Clearwater River steelhead groups (Nielsen et al. 2009; Ackerman et al. 2016) and comprise the only “large” independent population in the Clearwater River major population group (MPG; ICBTRT 2003).