Red River & Newsome Creek are main tributaries to the South Fork Clearwater River and have historically been strongholds for steelhead, bull trout, and Chinook salmon. Past land management activities have severely degraded spawning and rearing habitat for these species. This project proposes to restore degraded habitats through a comprehensive restoration program focusing primarily on the mainstem channels, floodplains, and riparian corridors.

The Nez Perce Tribe proposes to address the primary limiting factors to abundance and productivity of the focal species. The Tribe and Forest Service have prioritized restoration projects to address these limiting factors based on the Clearwater Subbasin Plan (NPCC 2005), South Fork Clearwater River Landscape Assessment (USDA 1998), Newsome Creek Ecosystem Analysis at the Watershed Scale ((EAWS), USDA 2002), Red River EAWS (USDA 2003), and the 2016 Clearwater Expert Panel process.

The resulting habitat improvements will increase survival for the following fish populations: Snake River Steelhead (O. mykiss) - ESA Threatened and Designated Critical Habitat, Snake River spring/summer Chinook (O. tshawytscha), bull trout (S. confluentus) - ESA Threatened and Designated Critical Habitat, Westslope cutthroat trout (O.c. lewisi), rainbow trout (O. mykiss), and Pacific lamprey (Lampetra tridentata).

This project is part of the Nez Perce Clearwater National Forest, Nez Perce Tribe, and BPA Watershed Restoration Partnership.  Since the project’s inception, we have shared project planning, costs, and implementation responsibilities.  This contract period's work will consist of plant maintenance on the past larger riparian planting efforts in the Lower Red River Meadow & Newsome Creek project areas, as well as annual fence maintenance on the Red River Meadow Conservation Easement. There has also been interest from several other landowners within Red River to look at their meadow properties for potential restoration activities. We will be working towards partnerships with interested landowners as their properties are key components to restoring river processes both within the Red River Watershed and South Fork Clearwater River subbasin.

Focus projects for 2024 are: the replacement of two fish barrier culverts on Trapper Creek (a main tributary to Red River); Newsome Phase II (covers approximately seven miles of mainstem stream habitat complexity through large wood and boulder placement); Phase II of riparian planting on the Red River Wildlife Management Area (WMA); planning activities for Red River private property restoration; as well as annual maintenance activities for the cattle exclosure fence and plant maintenance.