The Scope of Work and budget presented in this document represent the activities associated with the Coeur 'd Alene Tribe's resident fish enhancement project on Hangman Creek within the Spokane Sub-basin corresponding to the contract period May 1, 2013 to April 30, 2014.  Total amount of this budget request is $300,000  Project 2001-032-00 has entered an active implementation phase following inventory and assessment which started in 2002.

Ongoing objectives include:
o Determine areas that are in need of restoration to supply spawning and rearing habitat for Redband and other naturally reproducing trout.
o Support an educational outreach program to facilitate a “holistic watershed protection process managed thru BPA Project 1990-044-00.
o Implement a habitat/in-stream restoration strategy that will provide self-sustaining, naturally reproducing, and harvestable populations of native trout.
o Implement a monitoring and evaluation program to determine the effectiveness of habitat/in-stream restoration project.


The Hangman Creek watershed has experienced land use changes that have resulted in degraded in-stream habitat for fish and other aquatic species.  Conserving habitats in the upper tributaries is a priority along with increasing fish distribution and reconnecting fragmented populations. A primary method of accomplishing habitat enhancement is to enlist beaver in a holistic strategy to address multiple ecological and hydrologic process deficiencies. Beaver influenced channel and floodplain morphology and vegetation historically, but alteration of their habitat and trapping have substantially reduced their influence and the ability for their populations to rebound.  The absence of large wood as a dam foundation and impacts to the availability of suitable dam-building material in the riparian zone have influenced the resilience of beaver dams currently, which tend to blow out during high flow and/or ice melt.  If conditions could be made more favorable for their re-establishment, it is likely that channel conditions and in-stream habitat could be restored closer to the pre-settlement state, thereby restoring fish habitat, the riparian zone, and the floodplain in the process.

The following work will facilitate measured progress toward achieving the objectives for the project during this scope of work:

1) Implementing designs for restoration using beaver. WE F will be the first major restoration project on the mainstem of Hangman Creek and an expansion of the concept of forcing flood waters onto the floodplain first implemented on Sheep Creek in 2012. A relic channel will be reactivated by building an earthen plug on the main channel. This relic channel is longer with a natural curvature in its sinuosity and established riparian plants. Over-bank flows will be much more frequent because of an improved entrenchment ratio with the newly established channel. In addition to activating the relic channel, two floodplain swales will be activated by building choke flow structures at two locations downstream from relic floodplain swales. WE E will provide installation of beaver dam support poles that attract or support existing beaver dams on a reach of Mission Creek thru tribal allotment A632, and Sheep Creek Allotments A336/340. These measures will support beaver activity that will agrade the streambed over time to achieve more normative hydrologic function and enhance riparian habitats. With these improvements in place, riparian restoration can proceed to ultimately provide better canopy cover over the channel and increased bank stabilization. With a healthy riparian area, complete with species that beaver need, we can expect habitat conditions to reach a stable equilibrium. This action follows up on recommendations assigning priority to this reach.  WE G will provide a temporary source of food and building materials for beaver by providing clipping at key locations at known beaver activities. WE H will provide riparian enhancement at the same location on Hangman Creek as WE F.


2) RM&E activities will involve a continuation of fish habitat surveys to track spawning and rearing conditions available to salmonids (WE Q); migration trapping (WE J & K); continuous temperature monitoring throughout the watershed (WE R); as well as discharge and hydrolab monitoring (WE R), and; summer backpack electroshock surveys (WE L) and spring migration trapping to evaluate status and trends in redband trout populations. WE's I & M will expand a new protocol for the project which involves using PIT tag technology to monitor seasonal movements of redband trout in specific reaches of the upper Hangman watershed. A fixed PIT-tag station will be installed at two locations on Hangman Creek to monitor mainstem use by redband trout, one at the mouth of Indian Creek, and the 2nd at the mouth of Nehchen Creek. This will be in addition to two Pit-tag stations installed in Sheep Creek and one in Indian Creek during the contract previous to this SOW. WE U will collect data to determine distribution of beaver dams, materials used in dams, and fish habitat created.