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 ("Tribe") proposes to address the primary limiting factors to abundance and productivity of the focal species within the focal tributaries. 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.

Focal projects for 2025 & 2026 are: the implementation of the Newsome Large Wood & Boulder Placement Project -Phase I (approx. 7.2 miles of mainstem stream habitat complexity through large wood and boulder placement) and/or Red River Large Wood Placement Project - Phase I (approx. 6.8 miles of large wood placement on mainstem Red River); annual riparian planting within the Red River Meadow; preparation of a conceptual design & basis of design report for the larger Red River Meadow (including private property, IDFG RR WMA, USFS lands).  This project is envisioned to be a larger, comprehensive restoration of the Red River Meadow including mainstem river channel, side channels, tributary inputs, wetlands & floodplain.  Additional project activities include annual maintenance of cattle exclosure fencing and plant maintenance on past planting projects as well as maintenance on the construction access route for Upper Newsome Creek.