Rattlesnake Creek Passage and Wetland Habitat Enhancement

The grant funded restoration work at multiple sites on Rattesnake Creek and key tributaries. Yakama Nation worked closely with Underwood Conservation District (UCD) and Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group (MCFEG), who managed restoration projects under subcontracts with Yakama Nation. The project work included fish passage, floodplain/wetland restoration, livestock exclusion fencing, development of off-channel livestock watering access, and protection of the creek from recreational impacts.

The restoration work managed by UCD are: Uno Bull, Jebe Swale, Indian Creek Fish Passage, Castle Springs, and monitoring. The restoration work managed by MCFEG included the Upper Rattlesnake/Knickpoint restoration and the Steven’s family fence. A short summary of each project is included here. A more detailed “completion memos” and final reports for the UCD work conducted were included in previous progress reports.

The Upper Rattlesnake/Knickpoint Restoration project addressed channel instability and stabilized multiple knick points on upper Rattlesnake creek. The project installed three large, constructed riffles to backwater knickpoints and reduce the creek’s energy at this location. More than sixty logs (many with root wads attached) were placed on the floodplain to add roughness. The project area was planted and fenced.

The Uno Bull site was identified as a small tributary to Rattlesnake Creek where open range cattle accessed the creek for watering. UCD installed a hardened water gap in the stream and placed woody debris to block cattle access in upstream and downstream sections of the stream. The area was planted and seeded. The site is adjacent to the Upper Rattlesnake / Knickpoint project and creation of a hardened water gap at this location complements the project and reduces livestock pressure at this site.

Jebe Swale is located up upper Rattlesnake Creek where UCD had worked with the landowners and open range cattlemen to install livestock exclusion fencing about 15 years ago. Unfortunately, intense cattle trailing along the outside of the fence had captured stream flows and eroded and severely incised the channel bed. UCD removed the fence from its previous location, installed woody debris along the incised channel, re-located the exlusion fence outside of the riparian area and planted and seeded.

Castle Springs is a small tributary to Rattlesnake Creek that had downcut over the years due to intense logging, straightening (due to a narrow gauge railroad), and cattle grazing. While the landowner was not interested in riparian fencing at this site, UCD, under the guidance of Will Conley, YNFP Restoration Specialist, constructed rock riffles and a large log jam to backwater flows and allow stream aggradation to occur. The site was also seeded and planted.
Indian Creek is a tributary to Rattlesnake Creek where UCD managed the design and construction of a county road crossing. The previous crossing was a fish passage barrier and the new crossing is an open-bottom, stream simulation bridge. The area was also planted and seeded.

Fencing at the Stevens’ property was completed to reduce impacts of river users at and below lower Rattlesnake Falls. The pool and reach below the falls is sensitive fish habitat, which was being negatively impacted by recreationists who were trespassing both on foot and with ATVs. Two segments of fence were constructed in the spring of 2013 to eliminate parking, prevent ATV access, and dissuade pedestrian access. (See “Worksite #5”). Monitoring was conducted by UCD within the Rattlesnake Creek subbasin, primarily looking at water quantity. UCD has shallow groundwater wells, piezometers, which show whether aquifer recharge and water storage is improving with some of the channel restoration work being accomplished in the upper watershed. UCD continued to take periodic measurements at these piezometer sites.

Addressed upland limiting habitat factors in the Rattlesnake Creek drainage that were identified as highest priority by a number of different assessments including the draft NOAA Recovery Plan for Middle Columbia River Steelhead, the White Salmon Subbasin Plan, the Klickitat Lead Entity Salmon Recovery Strategy, all of which the YN was extensively involved with, and represented the most efficient means to optimize subsequent habitat enhancement efforts. Some projects have already been initiated to slow or reverse degradation of ecosystem processes in the upper Rattlesnake watershed: private and public landowners have agreed to and in some cases initiated the installation of sediment control and re-vegetation to address channel instability and recharge floodplains, cattle exclusion fencing and other measures to reduce sediment inputs from grazing and human traffic in riparian and adjacent areas.