Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Program - Project 200200200

Through this project, the Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Program (KRHRP), the Kootenai Tribe, in coordination with committed agency partners and stakeholders, is proposing to design and implement a series of ecosystem-based habitat restoration projects within a 55-mile reach of the Kootenai River extending from the confluence of the Moyie and Kootenai rivers in Idaho, downstream to the international U.S. and Canadian border. The purposes of the KRHRP are to (1) restore and maintain Kootenai River habitat conditions that support all life stages of endangered Kootenai sturgeon and other aquatic focal species, and (2) restore the Kootenai River landscape in a way that sustains the Tribal and local culture and economy and that contributes to the health of the Kootenai subbasin as both an ecological and socio-economic region. The desired result is a more resilient ecosystem, capable of sustaining diverse native plant and animal populations, and tolerant of natural disturbances.

The problem addressed by this project is the decline, and in some cases potential extinction of historically abundant populations of Kootenai River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and other native fish in the Kootenai subbasin, which has been precipitated by over a century of anthropogenic impacts to the Kootenai River ecosystem.

Over the course of the last century the Kootenai subbasin has been modified by agriculture, logging, mining, and flood control. The Kootenai River was confined by the construction of Libby Dam in Montana, which created Koocanusa Reservoir, and Corra Linn Dam downstream in British Columbia, which impounds Kootenay Lake. Constructed levees were built on top of natural sand levees for flood control, limiting the hydrologic connection between the Kootenai River and its floodplain. Over 50,000 acres of historically highly productive floodplain were converted to agricultural fields, resulting in the loss of riparian and wetland plant and animal species, and the related functions that normally support a healthy ecosystem.

Libby Dam became operational in 1972 effectively reducing annual peak flows by half and disrupting the hydrograph, which historically featured a single spring freshet that provided energy to drive ecosystem processes. These modifications resulted in unnatural flow fluctuations and changes to the temperature regime in the Kootenai River and its floodplain, and exacerbated the effects of previous anthropogenic impacts. These changes further diminished the availability of habitat suitable to support the complete life cycles of many aquatic species.

Following levee construction and completion of Libby Dam, native fish stocks including endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon, burbot (Lota lota), kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka), redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdnerii), westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi), and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) began to decline.

Much has been lost in the Kootenai subbasin and there are significant constraints in place that will alter ecosystem conditions into the foreseeable future; however, in spite of these changes, the Kootenai River subbasin presents unique and relatively achievable opportunities for ecosystem-based restoration within the constraints of existing infrastructure and Libby Dam operations.

Building on previous work accomplished under this project from 2002 to the present, the Tribe is proposing to move from the data-collection and planning stages of this project, into a design and implementation stage. Previous year’s work focused on collecting information necessary to better understand the ecosystem and the influence of existing conditions on Kootenai sturgeon recruitment failure (2002-2004); refined data collection, analysis and planning, and development and implementation of a pilot project (2005-2006); this was followed by development of a comprehensive Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Project Master Plan (2007-2009). The Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Project Master Plan presented a framework for ecosystem restoration in a 55-mile reach of the Kootenai River including restoration strategies to address factors limiting Kootenai sturgeon and other native fish populations in each reach of the project area, a suite of restoration treatments, conceptual implementation scenarios, and a monitoring and adaptive management framework.

Using the Master Plan as a starting point, the Tribe in collaboration with co-managers and agency partners, has developed a suite of restoration design concepts for implementation over the course of the next six to ten years. Activities proposed under this project from 2013 to 2017 include development, design, environmental compliance and permitting, and implementation of approximately 10-14 habitat restoration projects in the braided, straight and meander reaches of the Kootenai River. Project actions also include monitoring and evaluation of each project, adaptive management of the KRHRP program and its individual projects, targeted crucial uncertainties research necessary to address specific design questions, operations and maintenance, and outreach and education.  

Restoration treatments implemented through these projects will address a suite of limiting factors including: bank erosion and fine sediment inputs to downstream reaches, lack of cover for juvenile fish, lack of off-channel habitat for rearing, insufficient depth for Kootenai sturgeon migration, lack of mainstem hydraulic complexity in the form of variable depth and velocity, insufficient pool frequency, simplified food web, lack of surfaces that support riparian recruitment, loss of floodplain connection, lack of coarse substrate for Kootenai sturgeon egg attachment and larval hiding, lack of bank vegetation, lack of off-channel habitat, lack of fish passage into tributaries, and grazing and floodplain land use. Restoration treatments will include: mainstem bank restoration (approx. 26,100 linear feet), side-channel restoration (approx. 31,700 linear feet), mainstem pool establishment or enhancement (approx. 16 pools), large wood placement (approx. 82 structures), floodplain and wetlands construction and restoration (approx. 96 acres), spawning substrate enhancement (approx. 14,000 square feet), revegetation (approx. 52,000 plants), tributary restoration (approx. 11,700 linear feet), fish passage barrier removal (approx. 4 culverts), and riparian buffer fencing (approx. 11.7 miles).

The KRHRP complements and enhances work accomplished under the Tribe’s other BPA funded projects (198806400, 199404900, 200200800, 20020110) and is also intended to complement and enhance the habitat restoration, conservation aquaculture, mitigation, monitoring and evaluation, and research projects being implemented by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG), Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (MFWP), British Columbia Ministry of Forests Land Natural Resource Operations (BC MFLNRO), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and other entities in the Kootenai River subbasin.

The KRHRP is part of the Kootenai Tribe’s ongoing long-term efforts to achieve the vision of the Kootenai River and its floodplain as a healthy ecosystem with clean, connected terrestrial and aquatic habitats, which fully support traditional Tribal uses as well as other important societal uses.