Through this Lower Methow Targeted contract, MSRF and BPA will work together to evaluate the feasibility and biological benefit that could be achieved by implementing discreet habitat improvement actions within up to five of the high priority project areas identified in the Lower Methow River Reach Assessment  (LMRA) completed by MSRF with BPA funding support in previous contracts (79525 & 76478). This feasibility project would include landowner outreach to determine support/willingness, project area alternative analysis, title review, and site data collection (as necessary), and would result in development of conceptual designs with an estimate of implementation costs for each site.

This feasibility project is a timely next step to build on the information presented in the LMRA, and would lead directly to implementation of identified restoration actions through a collaborative design process with specialized BPA staff to effectively prioritize actions determined to be feasible and beneficial.

The objective of this collaborative project is to identify biologically meaningful and feasible actions that can be effectively implemented within the Lower Methow Reach Assessment area to improve the condition of habitat limiting factors, including floodplain condition, instream habitat complexity, and riparian condition to improve the growth and survival of ESA listed fish species. The lower 28 miles of the Methow River provide provides steelhead spawning habitat, is the migratory corridor for every adult spring Chinook and steelhead returning to the subbasin. The Lower Methow is the last area in the Methow used by rearing Chinook and steelhead juveniles prior to migration into the Columbia River.

MSRF Contract Manager and staff  will all cooperate, coordinate, collaborate, and maintain effective communication with BPA PM/COR, EC Lead, HIP Review Lead, and Hydraulic Engineer during the entire length of this contract with regards to project design.  MSRF and its subcontractors will address BPA comments and concerns, and the two entities will arrive at a mutual beneficial consensus.