Improve Lemhi River Fish Habitat

Update per NOAA progress report review for period ending 10/31/11.

The funding for this project was used to develop and design projects to improve the habitat for Chinook salmon and other Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed fish in the Lemhi River sub-basin. To meet this goal the project sponsor continued ongoing efforts to develop projects designed to meet three conservation objectives that are defined in the draft Lemhi Conservation Plan: 1) Improve Fish Passage; 2) Restore Stream Habitat; and 3) Restore Riparian Areas.

Projects were designed to provide fish access to important spawning and rearing habitat through reconnecting tributary habitats to the Lemhi River, focusing on Big Timber Creek, Lemhi Little Springs Creek, and Canyon Creek.

Project actions involved collaboration with project partners to identify, design and engineer projects to improve habitat for ESA species. Those partners included the Lemhi Soil and Water Conservation District, Custer Soil and Water Conservation District, the Upper Salmon Basin Watershed Program, Trout Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy, landowners, Bonneville Power Administration, and other federal partners.

Once the projects were identified, planned and designed the project sponsor handed those projects off to the Lemhi Soil and Water Conservation District, Custer Soil and Water Conservation Trout Unlimited, Idaho Depart of Fish and Game and the Nature Conservancy, who in turn submitted the designed projects to the Idaho Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery board for consideration and approval to implement through separate and individual projects.

Some of the projects planned, designed and engineered through this project include:
003 07 SA Canyon Creek Riparian Restoration
011 07 SA PBSC Water Conservation
003 08 SA Big Canyon Reconnect
004 07 SA Upper Lemhi Rehabilitation
007 06 SA Big Timer Creek reconnection and Lemhi River Flow Improvement,
009 06 SA Lemhi Little Springs Pond Restoration
Lemhi Little Springs Culvert Replacement
Lemhi Little Springs Creek Habitat Improvement

Conservation planning included continued efforts to develop a Section 6 Agreement under the ESA between private landowners, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, referred to as the Services. The purpose of this agreement is to establish a conservation program described in a planning document that conserves and/or restores habitat for ESA listed fish on private lands (the Lemhi Conservation Plan). In turn, landowners that voluntarily participate in conservation actions will be protected from federal prosecutions for incidentally “taking” listed fish as they use water under state law in the Lemhi sub-basin.

Improvement of the spawning condition of spawning and rearing habitat for ESA listed salmon and steelhead by reconnecting biologically prioritized tributaries with the Lemhi River. In most tributaries fish are unable to migrate through certain tributary segments because of stream dewatering and numerous fish migration barriers. Big Timber Creek is the largest of these disconnected tributaries and one of the most important biologically because it would provide critical spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead. Improving flow in lower Big Timber Creek will provide more than 50 stream miles of good quality spawning and rearing habitat that is currently unavailable. Juvenile salmon produced in the Lemhi River to will be able to access cooler water in Big Timber Creek and other tributaries for rearing during summer, adult salmon will access good spawning habitat, and adequate flow will be available for pre-smolts and smolts for their seaward migration.