Stowers Construction, East Fork Potlatch Habitat Restoration

The Stowers Construction, East Fork Potlatch Habitat Restoration restored one mile of habitat on the East Fork Potlatch River (EFPR), Idaho on private land. Wild steelhead, Oncorhynchus mykiss, within the Lower Clearwater population spawn and rear in this reach of river. The project improved spawning and rearing conditions for juvenile steelhead by adding large wood to provide habitat complexity, thermal refugia, stabilize banks, promote substrate aggradation, restore floodplain function, and exclude cattle with fencing. Additionally, two alcoves were created to promote use of off-channel rearing habitat and a persuasion channel was excavated to tie into an existing remnant channel in a 4.5 acre forested floodplain.
Project actions included:
1. Modified one river mile by felling trees on the landowner’s property for a total of 47 instream structures. Instream structures included unanchored wood jams and two bolted and anchored engineered log jams (‘catcher’s mitts’, identified as ‘other engineered structures’ in metrics) below the floodplain reconnection channel and at the downstream end of the floodplain. Three larger, channel spanning, anchored structures used additional anchoring members to assure stability and provide log jam functionality.
2. Improved access to approximately 4.5 acres of floodplain using log jams to aggrade the river at key points to promote floodplain access.
3. Minimal excavation promoted side channels and additional floodplain connectivity.
4. Planted riparian vegetation throughout the project reach using native plants and installed fencing to protect 223 acres.
This project is located downstream of two PCSRF-funded EFPR steelhead habitat restoration projects: Dammerman (007 17 CW), and Lower Fry Meadow (008 20 CW).
An amendment was completed for a decrease in the original budget. Amendment #2 included an additional budget decrease and a project extension. The project did not cost as much as originally proposed, primarily due to an overall decrease in the number of habitat treatments from the original cost estimate, and a lower winning construction bid than was anticipated based on engineering cost estimates. Fewer instream structures were constructed (47) than were proposed (61), as IDFG determined that utilizing fewer, more complex structures was more appropriate than more, less complex structures. More fencing was constructed than proposed, as more of the landowner’s property needed fencing than was originally realized to ensure cattle were kept out of the restoration area.
Two articles were published on the project:
Bowersox, B. (2019). Making steelhead habitat complex (Blog post). Available at: https://idfg.idaho.gov/blog/2019/07/making-steelhead-habitat-complex

Bruns, J. (2021). Reflecting back on 2020: a year in review – close to 3 miles of fish habitat restored in upper Potlatch (Blog post). Available at: https://idfg.idaho.gov/press/reflecting-back-2020-year-review-close-3-miles-fish-habitat-restored-upper-potlatch

The East Fork of the Potlatch River is identified as a major spawning area for federally ESA listed wild steelhead.This project will use locally sourced trees to increase instream channel complexity on approximately one mile of the East Fork Potlatch River. The LWD will increase recruitment and retention of vital spawning gravels, provide resting, rearing, and overwintering habitat, reconnect the floodplain, and increase lateral habitat. The trees will be positioned within the channel as debris, log jams, and channel spanners in locations designed to maximize their benefit for backwatering floodplains and create lateral habitat.