Project/Contract History:
The Lapwai Creek Watershed Rehabilitation Project was originally funded by BPA in 1999 to complete a watershed analysis.  Since that time, the NPT Watershed Division has been working on resource assessments and project implementation throughout the Lapwai Creek watershed.  Restoration and protection activities have included native revegetation, riparian protection fencing, road decommissioning, and other BMPs.  Prior to the initiation of this project, a massive data gap existed on fish, the condition of fish habitat, and limiting factors within the watershed.  Only a minimal amount of baseline data collection had occurred.  We felt it was of utmost importance to address this issue prior to any large-scale implementation of restoration activities.  Thus, the early years of the project (1999-2001) were focused on watershed assessment and subbasin planning.  Unfortunately, these efforts were very broad in scope, and the watershed assessment was based on what minimal data existed on the watershed at that time.  This proved to be much too coarse to provide any substantial direction or to guide our restoration efforts.  

Summary of FY07 Contract:
In response to the ISRP and NPCC FY 2007-09 proposal comments, FY 2007 contract activities will be limited in scope.  The primary project objective during the FY 2007 contract year is to analyze and compile the fish presence and abundance data and stream habitat data collected annually since 2003.  This data will be analyzed and converted into a GIS-compatible format.  Once in a GIS-compatible format, the data will be combined with other available, watershed-wide data sets currently being developed by the Nez Perce Soil and Water Conservation District and the NPT Water Resources Division.  These data sets will likely include some or all of the following: 1.) Thermal imagery, 2.) LiDar Imagery, 3.) water quality data, 4.) stream habitat condition assessment data (SVAP and SAM), and 5.) riparian canopy analysis.  The Lapwai Creek Watershed is very "data-rich," and the synergistic effect of combined data sets will help to provide an accurate assessment of the status and health of the aquatic resources within the watershed.  This assessment will allow us to spatially prioritize the implementation of future watershed protection and restoration projects, and create a joint 10-year Restoration Plan, between the NPT and the NPSWCD, for the Lapwai Creek Watershed.    

In addition to the development of a 10-year Restoration Plan for the watershed, it is necessary to continue some specific project activities, that began in FY 2006 on Allotment 365, through the FY 2007 contract year.  Allotment 365 is bisected by Sweetwater Creek, which historically provided significant cold-water refugia for the Lower Clearwater Population of the Snake River Basin Steelhead.  Allotment 365 has been leased as a feedlot for over 50 years and was in dire condition prior to the initiation of habitat protection and restoration efforts by the Watershed Division, the landowners, and the lessee in 2006.  We have been working with the landowners, lessee, and other tribal natural resource departments since 2004 to complete an assessment and conservation plan for this property.  It has been a slow process, but we were finally able to reach a compromise and begin implementation in 2006.  During the summer of 2006, the NPT Water Resources Division funded the installation of a well for an off-stream livestock watering system.  In the fall of 2006, we constructed approximately 1 mile of fence on the property to exclude livestock from mainstem Sweetwater Creek and 2 intermittent spring-fed tributaries.  The livestock have been excluded from all naturally flowing surface water on the allotment.  We have committed to the landowner and lessee to implement the next phase of the project in 2007.  These activities include: 1.) approximately 20 acres of mechanical weed control (i.e., with weed eaters and brushers) to prepare the newly-established riparian buffer for revegetation, 2.) plant approximately 7 acres of native trees and shrubs within this buffer, 3.) install a temporary irrigation system to water the plugs for at least the first year, 4.) close 3 fords and replace a failing stream crossing with a railcar bridge (time-sensitive cost share with the lessee), and 5.) install a flatbed livestock crossing over a spring-fed tributary.

The implementation of these ongoing FY 06 activities on Allotment 365 will attempt to ensure that landowners and community members do not withdraw support for our watershed restoration program.  It often takes a substantial amount of time, energy, and commitment to work with landowners and lessees to implement watershed restoration projects on private property.  A certain level of trust between NPT staff and the landowners must be established before permission is granted to implement these projects.  Once this trust is established, it can easily be broken (e.g., not following through with obligations, insufficient funding, implementing projects differently than described to them, etc.).  

The FY 07-09 ISRP and Council comments mandate that 2007 funds are “… for completion of the inventory and assessments” only, and no funds will be available for implementation until the inventory and assessments have been completed and compiled.  While we agree that these assessments need to be compiled and a restoration/prioritization plan be developed as soon as possible, we believe that the funding restriction is likely to reduce landowner confidence, trust, and incentive to continue working with us to protect and restore the habitat on their property.