The primary goal of the Fort Hall Habitat Restoration project is to restore, enhance, and protect Fort Hall Indian Reservation (Reservation) streams so they can support native fish populations at near historic levels. The Fort Hall Bottoms area provides a range of ecosystem services important to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, which includes
sustaining populations of Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri) and other native fish. The range and distribution of Yellowstone cutthroat trout have been impacted in many tributaries of the Snake River by competition with other salmonids and by habitat degradation. Streams on the Reservation have been negatively affected (i.e. loss of riparian vegetation, down cutting, and lateral scouring of stream banks) by a variety of sources, including livestock grazing, American Falls Reservoir construction and operations, and the 1976 Teton Dam collapse.  Damage to stream banks from years of unrestricted grazing continues to be a problem on Reservation streams. Rapid flooding and drafting of American Falls Reservoir in conjunction with seasonal freeze-thaw cycles is a cause of stream bank failures on lowland Reservation streams.  Negative impacts from stream bank failures include, but are not limited to:  widened channels, a reduction in riparian vegetation and in stream cover; increased summer water temperatures, and deposition of fines on critical spawning and rearing substrates.  Stream restoration will continue to be the focus of the Fort Hall restoration work on the Bottoms.

Habitat restoration will remain as the primary focus for the Fort Hall project in this contract.  Restoration work in this contract will address two reaches of Spring Creek: the upper reach of Spring Creek below Broncho Bridge, and the Dougs Sloping reach.  Work in this contract will include producing designs and on permitting for these project sites. Construction for these two Spring Creek project reaches will occur in the subsequent contract (FY19).  

Work in this contract will also focus on addressing ISRP deliverables outlined in the most recent project review, and submitting final management plan documents.