This project supports implementing larger-scale projects to improve local watershed health and ecosystem conditions and function within the Pend Oreille subbasin, consistent with the NPCC Sub-Basin Plan. The Kalispel Tribe has a history of matching & leveraging  funds from various sources (e.g. SRFB, DOE, DOT, BIA, USFS) to implement large scale watershed projects.  Land management and watershed restoration will be based upon the jointly-developed objectives and expected performance outcomes. There is an opportunity for cost share on culvert removal projects in the Priest Lake Watershed. This is a cooperative project with the US Forest Service and USFWS  to remove a  culvert on Big Creek.


This project will also continue the work on the modification and renovation of the existing pump-station which is being modified within the existing footprint  to ensure the pumpstation and equipment remains above the Pend Oreille River flood elevation. The work consists of removing existing pump equipment, electrical equipment, and piping. The pump station building will be modified to remove the roof and establish a working platform at the top of the existing walls. All electrical and mechanical equipment shall be installed per the plans above the 100-year flood. A new alarm system for both the hatchery building and pumphouse will be installed.  The upper hatchery building will be entirely re-plumbed in order to accommodate the groundwater source that has already been piped to the hatchery building.


Temperature Mitigation:
USGS will identify and predict the spatial and temporal extent of cold-water refuges by using a variety of mapping sources, modeling and remote sensing tools, and direct measurement techniques.  Emphasis will be placed on using publicly available map and remote sensing data sources and geographic information system (GIS) – based modeling tools.   A bathymetry map of the river that is fused to the existing LiDAR data representing the floodplain is a critical component of that analysis.  


The Kalispel Tribe will hire Portland State University (PSU) to evaluate potential strategies to enhance cold-water refugia along the Pend Oreille River within the Box Canyon Pool.  The feasibility study portion of the project will be organized into two tasks comprised of different evaluations to:
1. Update the existing CE-QUAL-W2 model of the Pend Oreille River with added capabilities to evaluate potential structural enhancements at the confluence of cool tributaries (2 sites initially) and;
2. In collaboration with USGS, evaluate other possible opportunities to enhance cold-water refugia throughout the Box Canyon Pool utilizing remote sensing, expanded monitoring, and hydrogeological evaluations.


Twenty Bull trout will be acquired from IDFG lake trout netting program and implanted with transmitters and tracked to determine movements and potential locations of coldwater refugia.