The Hangman Restoration Project was initially contracted in August of 2001.  Hangman Creek once supported a run of Chinook salmon and steelhead and a site near the current town of Tekoa, Washington was one of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe’s main fishing areas.  Recent management of the landscape had greatly degraded the wetland habitats and stream conditions till native salmonids are no longer found in the Hangman Mainstem.  The Hangman Restoration Project was initiated to restore native habitats by pursuing duel benefits through both Wildlife Mitigation and Resident Fish Substitution within the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program.  The first years of the Project were focused toward identifying priority habitats and pursuing the purchase of parcels that offered the greatest potential to support native fish and wildlife habitats.  Properties were purchased in FY2005 that are credited to Albeni Falls construction and inundation losses.  Assessments of the properties were completed in FY 2006 and 2007.  A management plan for the properties, which the Tribe refers to collectively in the Coeur d'Alene language as hnt'k'wipn, was completed and approved in the spring of FY2008.  The restoration of hnt'k'wipn was initiated in the summer of 2008, with the removal of drain tiles that dewatered potential wetlands within the property.  In 2009, extensive portions of the property were seeded with native grass and alterations were made to the landscape to prepare for filling in some major artificial drainages.  

During Fiscal Year 2010, the year of this scope of work, the route of the Sheep Creek realignment will be excavated, secured with coir fabric and planted with native grasses.  The realignment will be activated with waters from Sheep Creek only during the growing season in the first two years after construction to allow the new channel to stabilize.  These improvements to native fish and wildlife habitats are consistent with the yearly, stepwise implementation of restoration activities outlined in the hnt'k'wipn Management Plan.  This strategy will minimize risks, build on successes, and spread the financial burden over a longer period.  For FY2010, additional habitat restoration activities will include: thinning the mature forest on the property to reflect pine open woodland conditions and allow increased diversity within the understory, planting native grasses in areas taken out of agricultural production, planting fields that have established stands of native grass with native broad leaved  forbs and deciduous trees and shrubs.  

The ultimate goal of the Hangman Restoration Project and the Hangman Fisheries Project (BPA Project #2001-032-00) is to prepare the Hangman Watershed for the return of the salmon and steelhead anadromous runs.  In order to accomplish this task, the focus of the Hangman Restoration Project must remain on the Hangman Watershed at large.  In this current scope of work, the Hangman Restoration Project plans to continue the attempts to partner with the NRCS and FSA to implement Continuous Conservation Reserve Programs (CCRP) on priority parcels in the Hangman Watershed.  In previous years efforts to partner with the NRCS and FSA failed due to 1) a lack of interest by landowners at large and 2) the rules for eligibility disqualified properties where landowners were willing to enroll.  A new Farm Bill was passed in the spring of 2008, however, the implementation of that bill has been delayed due to litigation.  Allotted and Tribal lands within the Hangman Watershed may be well situated for enrolled in CCRP if criteria within the new Farm Bill is implemented.    

The completion of a recent Environmental Protection Agency funded project identified downstream characteristics as holding the highest hydrologic priority for wetland and stream flow restoration and enhancement.  In order to return base flows to the Hangman Watershed, therefore, the Hangman Restoration Project must increasingly concentrate on returning proper hydrologic function to downstream riparian and wetland habitats.