This is one of three projects funded, in part, by BPA (matching funds from Colville Confederated Tribes and Federal Highways) through the Upper Columbia Habitat Project for FFY 2011 (project # 2010-001-00).  The costs associated with administering this contract are covered under the programmatic project (contract # 50379).

The Okanogan River contains summer steelhead, a stock federally-listed as “threatened”.  In an effort to recover this stock, cold water habitat contained within tributaries of the Okanogan River need to be rehabilitated. One tributary, Loup Loup Creek (watershed size 63.9 square miles), has been utilized for spawning by summer steelhead as indicated by 39 redds in the lowermost 1 mile during the spring of 2010 (B. Miller, personal communication, Colville Tribes). Not unlike many tributaries of the Okanogan River, flows in Loup Loup Creek are diverted for agricultural production. Consequently the lowermost 1.0 mile of Loup Loup Creek has been intermittently disconnected from the Okanogan River since the 1930’s. In an effort to reconnect the lower 1.0 mile of LoupLoup Creek, the Colville Tribes, along with other entities, are working with local irrigation associations for a viable solution to provide continuous instream flow while maintaining agricultural production.

In addition to the lack of sufficient flow, a perched culvert at RM 0.1 impedes fish passage into Loup Loup Creek. The road (Burdett Street) crosses Loup Loup Creek and provides access to a few private residences. This undersized, perched culvert is proposed to be replaced with a bottomless box culvert. At the project site the channel will be lined with a mixture of streambed materials designed for stability and impermeability.  With separate funding a second culvert, located approximately at RM 0.2 (Figure 1), is not perched but is undersized (42” diameter) and is an impediment to passage due to excessive velocity. This culvert will also be replaced with bottomless-box culvert. The funding for this culvert replacement has been secured by Public Works of Okanogan County. Once continuous flow is reestablished and the two bottomless box culverts are replaced, 2.2 miles of Loup Loup Creek would be accessible to summer steelhead. A natural barrier created by a falls at RM 2.2 prevents further access by anadromous fish.