Project work in this contract will finalize the CHaMP survey work in the Yankee Fork basin and focus on shifting project work to the Panther Creek basin to address habitat restoration needs in that subbasin.

Through the Tribes, Watershed Solutions, Inc., will conduct effectiveness and status & trend fish habitat surveys in the Yankee Fork Salmon River watershed for each major salmonid population group (MPG, steelhead and Chinook) using the CHaMP protocol. CHaMP has provided the Tribes a robust methodology to record before and after conditions of habitat restoration actions. This survey work has been conducted in previous contracts and a final report will be presented at the conclusion of this contract.

The SRHE project will shift focus to developing habitat restoration work in the Panther Creek basin. Panther Creek is part of the Middle Salmon-Panther Subbasin, consisting of four watersheds and encompassing approximately 1370 km2. As a large tributary to the Salmon River, it represents an important spawning and rearing tributary for Chinook salmon and steelhead trout; however, due to past land management activities such as timber harvest, mining, cattle grazing, water diversions, and wildfire suppression, much of this habitat has been substantially degraded. The main channel of Panther Creek has low habitat complexity and diversity in areas critical to the survival of rearing juvenile steelhead and Chinook following the emergence from gravel during spring. Other limiting factors include high summer stream temperatures, lack of habitat quantity and quality,  reduced riparian vegetation abundance, and reduced water and sediment quality as a result of past mining activity. Currently, these conditions limit the distribution and abundance of ESA-listed anadromous fish in Panther Creek. Much of the basin is USFS land and is designated as a priority watershed under the 1995 Salmon-Challis National Forest Plan. The USFS will be a planning and implementation partner in restoration work conducted in this basin.

Restoration work in Panther Creek will be approached with two primary goals. The first is to restore habitat complexity in sections of Panther Creek and its tributaries in order to increase juvenile steelhead and Chinook habitat quality and quantity. The second goal is to restore and sustain a sufficient abundance of salmon and steelhead for harvest by Tribal members in fulfillment of guarantees established in the 1868 Fort Bridger Treaty. To achieve the first goal, we will develop a watershed assessment to document and describe current habitat conditions, geomorphic conditions and constraints, current landscape context, and to identify reaches and methods for habitat restoration. Design and implementation of restoration projects will be done in subsequent contracts.

Examples of potential projects include replacing culverts, installing Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA’s) and/or Post Assisted Log Structures (PALS) to enhance hydrologic, geomorphic and riparian processes to the benefit of Chinook and steelhead populations, and identifying other opportunities to improve floodplain connection. Culvert replacements in some of the tributaries to Panther Creek would address velocity and height barriers for anadromous fish. BDA’s and PALS would address the need for deep pool and pond habitat, and increase surface water storage. These elements provide deep water refugia, increase the frequencies of riffle habitat and abundance of suitable spawning gravels, help reconnect floodplains, increase water storage/recharge of shallow alluvial aquifers, and provide thermal refugia during high summer temperatures.