North Fork Salmon River Watershed Habitat Assessment

The North Fork Salmon River (NFSR) is one of eight major tributaries in the Upper Salmon Basin and has five major tributary streams that are dominantly protected by Forest Service property. The Idaho PCSRF Board has been funding restoration projects in the North Fork Salmon River watershed for several years and has requested a strategic action plan and habitat assessment for the drainage. The North Fork Salmon River Watershed Habitat Assessment project developed a habitat restoration planning framework for the North Fork basin. This report presents the assessment, evaluation, and restoration strategy for the NFSR watershed, with a focus on the mainstem NFSR, for Sp/Su Chinook Salmon and steelhead. Findings from an assessment of instream habitat conditions, identification of fish passage barriers, and a riparian habitat survey identified a deficit in available spawning habitat as a potential factor limiting Chinook salmon recovery; for steelhead, available quantity and/or quality of spawning and juvenile summer rearing (parr) habitat were identified as potential factors limiting recovery. Two primary strategies to address the identified habitat capacity deficits were recommended: 1) implement rehabilitation actions within lower-quality habitats to increase available capacity, or 2) increase the available spatial domain in tributaries and headwater habitats by addressing issues associated with habitat suitability and/or connectivity. Restoration potential differs among reaches throughout the NFSR watershed, and reach prioritization was completed through the application of a multi-criteria evaluation process. The resulting plan will be used to identify, develop, and implement meaningful restoration projects in the North Fork Salmon River Watershed.

The project received an extension, but was completed under budget.

The report is available to the public by contacting IDFG at jessica.buelow@idfg.idaho.gov.

The North Fork drainage is fragmented by small acreage hobby farms and homes, which pose a challenge to the scale of projects that can be completed. The plan and assessment will help focus and develop future restoration projects and provide practical alternatives based on improving habitat for spawning and rearing conditions for ESA listed species. Assessment of geomorphic and riparian features of the watershed will allow stakeholders to better understand the physical processes that limit the quality and quantity of fish habitat in the context of land use in the basin.