The Hangman Restoration Project (#2001-033-00) 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.  During the 20th Century, dam construction, overharvest and landscape alterations have greatly degraded the wetland and stream habitats.  Degraded habitats have prevented the recovery of native fish populations from the low levels that existed during the later decades of the 20th Century.   A goal of the Hangman Restoration Project is to improve habitats within the Hangman Watershed to once again support a harvestable population of native trout; however, the ultimate goal of the Hangman Restoration Project is to prepare the Hangman Watershed for the return of the salmon and steelhead spawning runs.  In order to accomplish Project Goals, the focus of the Hangman Restoration Project must remain on the Hangman Watershed at large.    

The Hangman Restoration Project was initiated in 2001 to speed the recovery of native fish and wildlife populations 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 against Albeni Falls construction and inundation losses.  Assessments of the properties were completed in FY 2006 and 2007 and a management plan for the properties was completed in FY2008.  The Coeur d'Alene Tribal Elders named the collection of BPA mitigation properties in the Hangman Watershed “hnt'k'wipn.”  The restoration of hnt'k'wipn was initiated in FY2008 and has proceeded according the sequence described in the hnt'k'wipn Management Plan.  However, some issues have arisen that have slowed the progress of restoration.  Budget limitations restrict the amount of work that can be accomplished in any given year.  The finding of potentially significant cultural resources by the Tribe's Cultural Resource Staff within the new Sheep Creek Channel alignment in FY2010 prevented the scheduled completion of that new channel.   The invasion of Ventenata dubia in the wet meadows planted with native grasses has slowed the establishment of native forbs and shrubs.  Implementing restoration beyond the confines of hnt'k'wipn by partnering with NRCS/FSA Conservation Reserve Programs (CRP) has been difficult due primarily to the reluctance of farming operators within the Watershed to reduce acreages devoted to crop production.

Each obstacle has presented a challenge, but adjustments are being made to continue restoration efforts according to the Management Plan.  New strategies are developed each year to complete as much restoration work as possible within budgetary confines.  The excavation of the potential cultural resource site is being completed this year (FY2011) by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's archeologist and channel construction will be completed shortly after the Cultural Resource Program finishes its investigation.  Since Ventenata dubia is an annual grass, mowing is the best treatment to reduce its presence.  However, wet spring conditions prevent the use of heavy mowing equipment on the fields planted to native grass, so new track equipment was purchased by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's Wildlife Program that is light enough to access the fields planted to native grasses even during wet spring conditions.  A process of reviewing priority Trust lands for enrollment in CRP has been developed and is in the initial stages of implementation for this upcoming Fiscal Year (FY2012).  

During FY2012, the Hangman Restoration Project will work within its means to implement restoration that will result in benefits to native fish and wildlife populations on both BPA mitigation properties and properties enrolled in CRP.  Work proposed for the FY2012 Scope of Work includes: the diversion of summer flows through the newly constructed Sheep Creek channel, the filling of ditches C and D and re-routing the water collected in those ditches through swales to encourage floodplain wetland re-charge, planting deciduous trees and shrubs within habitats managed by the Project, mowing areas planted to native grasses to prevent Ventenata dubia from seeding, minimizing the presence of broadleaf noxious weeds within areas managed by the Project, and seeking additional partnerships with the NRCS/FSA to enroll priority habitats in CRP.