The objects of this grant proposal are to implement conservation practices which reduce concentrated water flows, decrease stream sedimentation, and enhance water quality traveling off agricultural lands which drain through the Foster Creek Watershed (WRIA #50) and into the Upper Columbia River in Douglas County. This will be accomplished by substantially increasing the number of acres of cropland using no-till cultivation practices and by implementing livestock improvements and erosion control. ESA listed summer steelhead, spring chinook, and bull trout spawning and rearing habitat will be enhanced. According to the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Boards Strategy to Protect and Restore Salmonid Habitat in the Upper Columbia Region for the Foster Creek Watershed, Sediment from upland activities may affect spawning and rearing conditions: agricultural practices that reduce upland erosion would have sustainable benefits. The Salmon and Steelhead Habitat Limiting Factors Report indicates severe silting, erosion, and heavy sediment yields limit salmonid success in the watershed. Primary project areas will be identified utilizing the Limiting Factors Report, E.S.H.B. 2514 Watershed Analysis, and the National Riparian Service Teams Properly Functioning Conditions Survey and will target highly erodible lands. Projects outlined in this proposal will be completed in five years and be used to demonstrate and promote upland management and conservation tillage.
