The Scotch Creek Wildlife Area is a complex of 5 separate management units located in Okanogan county.  This project is located within the Columbia Cascade Province (Okanogan sub-basin) and partially addresses adverse impacts caused by the construction of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee hydroelectric dams.  The total size of the wildlife area is 16,560 acres.  Shrub-steppe and grasslands are the primary habitat types comprising 13,805 acres of this total.  The Scotch Creek Wildlife Areas were approved as a wildlife mitigation project in 1996 and habitat enhancement efforts to meet mitigation objectives have been underway since the spring of 1997 on Scotch Creek.  The enhancements to date include approximately 2,700 acres of shrub-steppe/grassland restoration, and over 100,000 trees and shrubs planted to provide critical wintering habitat primarily for the Columbian Sharp-tailed grouse.  Population surveys and estimates of Sharp-tailed grouse on the Scotch Creek unit show a halt to the decline observed since 1960, and have increased every year since 2000.  The only area in Washington State to show an increase.  Population estimates for Sharp-tailed grouse in 1995 were 12-18 birds, and in 2005 they were estimated at 96 total birds on the area.  Habitat enhancements and genetic supplementation through augmentation appear to be having a positive effect.  Continued operation and maintenance activities funded by BPA are necessary to continue the positive results observed on Scotch Creek and to ensure BPA's mitigation obligation is met.  These activities are essential to further the goal of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to protect and enhance shrub-steppe and to recover and sustain populations of Sharp-tailed grouse and other obligate species.