Canyon Creek Project

The Canyon Creek Project was planned to take place on the Leadore Land Partners Conservation Easement property, United States Forest Service (USFS) land, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land near Leadore, Idaho on Canyon Creek. The total project area was approximately 6,580 feet of Canyon Creek. The project was funded to install willow weave and beaver dam analog structures along the creek, placed with hand machinery using on-site harvested willows and wooden posts. The goal of the project was to raise the water table in this area of Canyon Creek, providing more access to the floodplain, and drastically improving the instream habitat. A riparian jack fence was planned to protect the restoration project. The project also intended to remove a diversion off USFS land and move it a few hundred feet upstream onto Leadore Land Partners property.



Unfortunately, after two years of negotiations with stakeholders in the project, it was no longer feasible to move the diversion off USFS land onto private property. Furthermore, after continued negotiations with stakeholders, the remainder of the project, including all of the restoration and riparian fence were put on pause indefinitely.

Canyon Creek is a tributary of the Lemhi River, and the project is intended to improve habitat for Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed spring Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus schawytscha), summer steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus). Project goals are to improve habitat for limiting life stages of ESA-listed fish, restore natural channel processes to maintain diverse habitat, and to address shade targets set in the Conservation Easement. The design will increase multi-threaded channel segments, add instream structure to improve fish habitat and floodplain connectivity, create constrictions and place structure allowing the channel to maintain pools, utilize existing mature riparian vegetation where feasible, and create increases in bank structure, riparian conditions, and shade. Additional willow plantings will enhance riparian conditions over time.