Project/Contract History:

The Salmon Subbasin Management Plan identified the Little Salmon River as severely impacted in terms of hydrology and habitat fragmentation (Northwest Power and Conservation Council, 2004).  Implementation of this project will address objective 12 rehabilitate connectivity, strategy 12A1 reconnect waterways, of the Salmon Subbasin Management Plan. The Squaw Creek culvert replacement project was identified in 2005 by the US Bureau of Reclamation liaison biologist assigned to the Little Salmon River to coordinate conservation measures for the 2004 remand version of the FCRPS Biological Opinion.  Both this project and contract will be initiated and fully completed in the 2007 calendar year.

Culvert Replacement Contract Fiscal Year 2007 Summary:

This contract will remove an existing perched culvert at stream mile 2.0 in Squaw Creek, tributary to the Little Salmon River, approximately 2.3 miles southwest of Riggins, Idaho and replace it with a bottomless arch culvert.  The contract will also include rehabilitation of a tributary channel that enters Squaw Creek over the stream bank immediately above the culvert to be replaced which will reconnect the tributary to itself and to Squaw Creek.  The project has been designed, costs estimated, permits and environmental compliance completed by the US Bureau of Reclamation' s Pacific Northwest Region Design Group Boise and Grangeville, Idaho staff as part of Reclamation' s implementation of conservation measures program. The request for Bonneville Power Administration funding is needed to comply with the non-federal cost share requirement for the Idaho Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund portion of project funding. Construction is scheduled to begin July 30, 2007 and it is estimated that the instream portion of the project will last at most two weeks.  A fish salvage operation will be conducted by volunteers coordinated by the Reclamation liaison biologist prior to the dewatering of the stream.  

A subcontractor will be retained for construction, the Idaho County Roads Department will manage the project, Reclamation will provide engineering and biological assistance during construction, Idaho Department of Fish and Game will conduct pre and post construction fish surveys, and the Idaho Soil Conservation Commission will assist Idaho County with funding contract administration. The culvert will be maintained by the county roads department as part of their transportation system.   No funding will be requested beyond 2007 for this project.  Other funding for this project has also been secured from the following: The Idaho Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund through the Idaho Office of Species Conservation ($92,000), American Rivers - NOAA Fisheries ($15,000), and The Idaho Fish and Wildlife Foundation ($5,000).