Warm Springs Passage Barrier Removal

The Warm Springs Passage Barrier Removal project was located upstream of the Challis Hot Springs, near Challis, Idaho. Pre-project, the undersized lower culvert on Warm Springs was failing and created a full fish passage barrier, as well as causing the ponding of warm, stagnant water. The original plan to replace this culvert with a bridge located downstream was modified to include removal of this and another barrier culvert, each located in a split channel, and to replace each with a small bridge at their locations. The original proposed bridge location would have required a very large bridge due to the channel being extremely wide with unstable banks where the split channels came back together. Working at each of the small sites in the narrower channels was the best option for stream restoration and reduced construction and cost.

Implementation removed two culverts, one each from a split channel, and replaced each with a bridge, to provide fish passage for ESA-listed Chinook salmon and steelhead for 1.3 miles of habitat in Warm Springs.

Habitat within this reach is currently inaccessible. The removal of the failing culvert will provide approximately 1.3 additional miles of passage in Warm Springs. IDFG fish data for the springs in that area found juvenile chinook salmon and steelhead. Warm Springs will provide winter refuge for juvenile fish when the Salmon River begins to form ice jams.