Two Springs Protection and Restoration Project- Rock Creek Subbasin

The Two Springs Protection and Restoration project was designed to restore two headwater springs in upper Quartz Creek, a tributary of Rock Creek in Klickitat County, Washington, to conserve and enhance quantity and quality of water, meadow protection and rehabilitation, and support biological diversity at both sites for fish and wildlife. This project will enhance the water quality and water quantity of one of the headwater tributary streams that support Middle Columbia Steelhead Distinct Population Segments in the subbasin. Oncorhynchus mykiss (O. mykiss) critical habitat has been identified by NOAAF in the subbasin and there is a recovery plan in place for the subbasin. Spring and meadow restoration within the subbasin has been identified in the recovery plan as a key restoration action to benefit the O. mykiss population. Spring restoration includes relocating two spring fed water troughs out of the spring outlet and riparian area to a new location where cattle trampling in the riparian locales will be minimized for the protection of water quality. Meadow restoration includes fencing cattle out of the meadow and spring outlet and planting native plants in the riparian channel adjacent to the meadow.



The project was completed on June 20th, 2024. Two spring fed livestock watering sites were rebuilt and located in low impact areas. Both sites utilized NRCS specifications to establish wildlife friendly watering sites. Outlet pipes from watering sites were piped to a meadow at Site 1 and to a seasonal stream/riparian area at Site 2, each outlet was protected and hardened. At Site 1, 750 ft. of fencing was installed around the meadow for cattle exclusion. Debris and trash were removed from both sites, this included large steel holding tank, old watering troughs, piping, and other miscellaneous garbage.



Moving the troughs will allow for recovery of meadow soils and plant species. The rerouted outflow pipes are in areas that will allow for slow inundation into the meadow soils and reduce channelized run-off. WDFW did an extensive fencing project prior to the PCSRF project being initiated. As a result, only a limited amount of new fencing was necessary to complete exclude cattle from the Milk Springs site and no fencing was necessary at the Simcoe Unit site.



The land manager wanted to take a wait and monitor approach to additional planting given the response seen at times of the year when cattle are not present. A native seed mix was applied to all disturbed areas and some willow live staking done; YNF will supplementally plant as necessary.

Spring and meadow enhancement and restoration has been identified in the Lower Mid-Columbia Mainstem Including Rock Creek Subbasin Plan and the Recovery Plan for the Rock Creek Population of the Middle Columbia River Steelhead Distinct Population Segment to assist in restoring historical hydrologic regime and improving the groundwater storage capacity in upper Quartz Creek. Spring and meadow enhancement will promote cold water refugia in the headwaters of the subbasin which will be of benefit to the O. mykiss of the subbasin.



In 2017, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) purchased the lands in the headwaters of Rock Creek (~2240acres) from a private Timber company. For the last 100+ years the primary land use activities have been logging and grazing. Now the lands have been recently changed from private to ‘open and unclaimed lands’ and the WDFW has a Tribal co-management obligation with Yakama Nation. The headwaters of Rock Creek are critical to the entire subbasin and sustaining a viable population of steelhead in Rock Creek. This will be the first restoration project in the headwaters of Rock Creek and will lead the way to additional restoration projects in the headwaters to assist in retaining cold water refugia for all salmonids downstream of the restoration site.