CCR-47515 - Completely descope WE F Decommission Road/Relocate Road, as the plans to decommission and relocate approximately 1mile of USFS Road 4300 were unable to be approved by USFS. Addition of WEs: I and J  Remove/Breach Fish Passage Barrier and Increase Aquatic and/or Floodplain Complexity respectively. Six stream crossing and 22 road drain culverts will be removed on the USFS 432 road, after culvert removal at the stream crossings 8-10 trees will be placed un-anchored to the stream to increase complexity and stability to the restored stream crossing. Approximately 2.5 miles of upstream habitat will be made available to spawning and rearing steelhead in the Cold Creek drainage. The added WEs have been approved by USFS, and all EC coverage has been completed by USFS.  

The Wind River Watershed project is a collaborative effort to restore wild steelhead in the Wind River.  The four agencies working in this partnership include the US Forest Service (FS), Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), U.S. Geological Survey Columbia River Research Lab (CRRL), and Underwood Conservation District (UCD).  The partnership was established in the early 1990's and with support from BPA, has continued to conduct important habitat, research, monitoring and coordination activities across the watershed.  The project works at multiple levels to identify and characterize key limiting habitat factors in the Wind River, to restore degraded habitats and watershed processes, to measure, track and document fish populations, life histories, and interactions, and to share information with all interested parties.

Actions to be implemented during the contract performance period include:
- Contract management, administration, environmental compliance documentation, annual reporting and status reporting. (WE 119, 165, 132, & 185).
- Watershed coordination with Wind River partners (WE 191).
- Habitat project identification and selection efforts (WE 114).
- Forest Road 4300 decommissioning: Road decommissioning work is the first of a multi year effort implement the Lower Trout Creek/43 Road Floodplain and Habitat Enhancement Project. During the performance period approximately one mile of road will be removed from the riparian area along Trout Creek. Decommissioning the road is the first step in this project and will support future phases of the Lower Trout Creek/43 Road Project including replanting much of the roadway in native forest species, and reactivating floodplain and side channels that are now cut off from the river by the presence of the road.  Additional details are provided below.

Lower Trout Creek/43 Road Floodplain and Habitat Enhancement Project Description:
The Lower Trout Creek/43 Road Floodplain and Habitat Enhancement Project is intended to improve instream habitats and river function in approximately ½  mile of Trout Creek.  The project would use whole trees, logs and river rock to diversify habitats in the mainstem of Trout Creek, and to help restore floodplain connectivity and activate historic side channels.

To accomplish this objective, the project would realign approximately one mile of Forest Road 4300 away from its current location along Trout Creek, to a parallel location approximately 1/4 - 1/2 mile away.  The road realignment would include decommissioning of the existing segment of Road 4300, and construction/upgrade of an existing road through abandoned nursery fields nearby, to support continued access to the national forest.  This work would occur in FY22.  In FY23 and FY24, the project would implement instream restoration along the reach of Trout Creek that was once paralleled by Road 4300.  This work would include placement of whole trees, logs, and boulders in mainstem Trout Creek, tipping standing trees along the edge of Trout Creek, and physically reconnecting Trout Creek with floodplain and side channels that are currently on the opposite side of Road 4300.

This project is the final step in a series of actions taken over the past decade to restore river processes in this important reach of Trout Creek.  The overall intent of the Lower Trout Creek Restoration Project is to restore natural and self-sustaining river processes in Lower Trout Creek, to improve the long-term quality, quantity and resilience of habitats for Lower Columbia River steelhead.

Project Objectives include:
•    Reduce stream energies in the mainstem during high flows.  
•    Increase habitat complexity in ½ mile of Lower Trout Creek
•    Increase large woody debris recruitment and retention potential.  
•    Recharge floodplains to increase subsurface storage and transmission of water.  
•    Increase instream habitat quantity and quality.  
•    Improve water quality in Lower Trout Creek.  

Need for the Project:
The Wind River watershed is identified as a Tier 1 Key Watershed under the Northwest Forest Plan because it supports wild Lower Columbia River steelhead, a fish listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.  As a Tier 1 Key Watershed, the Wind River is prioritized at the highest level for aquatic restoration on national forest lands in the Pacific Northwest.  The Wind River is also identified as a Focus Watershed in the USFS Regional Restoration Strategy, and Trout Creek is a Priority subwatershed on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest because of its historic importance to Wind River steelhead production, and the potential for significant improvement in habitat and river function.  The Lower Columbia River Subbasin Plan identifies Trout Creek, and specifically Lower Trout Creek as major spawning and rearing habitats that have been impacted by a range of factors including loss of key habitat features, habitat diversity, large wood, and channel confinement.

The Lower Trout Creek reach has been the focus of Forest Service restoration efforts over the past decade in part because this reach is one of few in Trout Creek that can support steelhead spawning.  Immediately upstream and downstream of this reach, the creek flows through steep canyons where velocities are too high for spawning.

Over the past century, river processes and instream habitats within Lower Trout Creek have been impacted by a range of disturbances.  In the early 1900’s Yacolt Burn fires reached Trout Creek, logging and splash damming occurred in the lower portion of the reach, and ultimately construction of both Hemlock Dam and the upstream water supply dam significantly affected habitats and river processes throughout the reach.  

Construction of Road 4300 along Trout Creek occurred in the mid-early 1900s, effectively separating Trout Creek from its floodplain and occupying several acres of riparian forestland that would otherwise contribute shade, large and small woody material and habitat to Trout Creek.  Because of its close proximity to Trout Creek, there was a need to protect the road and buried waterline from erosion and flooding, so large trees that fell or were transported into this reach were bucked out and removed, to reduce the potential for debris jam formation and flooding.  Hazard trees along the road corridor continue to be removed regularly to protect the road and its users.  

The combination of factors has affected the way Trout Creek functions, and the habitats available to steelhead and other aquatic life in this reach.  Without access to its floodplain, high flows in Trout Creek are essentially trapped in the main channel, causing higher water velocities, and increased scour of the streambed and banks.  The lack of large woody structure in Lower Trout Creek has contributed to, and exacerbated this effect, leading to degradation of the channel, lack of habitat diversity, and a reach nearly devoid of spawning opportunities or refugia for steelhead.

Removal of Hemlock Dam in 2009 initiated efforts to restore the proper function of Lower Trout Creek.  Restoration efforts in Lower Trout Creek have continued since that time and resulted in increased side channel habitat, increased levels of large woody material, increased use of floodplains at high flows, increased spawning substrates in the channel, and improved aquatic habitat complexity.  The proposed realignment of Road 4300, and associated channel restoration work described above is the last piece of this reach-scale restoration effort.

Wind River Steelhead:
Lower Columbia River steelhead are native to the Wind River watershed, and in 1997 were listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  The ESA directs federal agencies including the USFS to use their available authorities to protect, improve and restore habitats that will promote recovery of listed species.  This project is directly aimed at restoring some of the highest priority habitats for steelhead in the Wind River, and proposes work that would result in long term positive change to the habitats and to re-establishing the processes that restore and renew habitats over time for these fish.  

Trout Creek has historically been one of the most productive contributors to the Wind River steelhead run.  But in the 1990s prior to removal of Hemlock Dam, the run had declined to less than 10 returning adult steelhead in some years. Ongoing fish monitoring in Trout Creek and throughout the Wind River indicate that steelhead numbers in Trout Creek have increased substantially since removal of the dam in 2009.  

As the number of steelhead in Trout Creek increases, competition for spawning and rearing habitats also increases, and existing habitats become more densely occupied.  There is a need to improve both the quantity and quality of habitats to support the existing population and the anticipated and ongoing increase in this run.  

With climate change, streams in the western Cascades are expected to experience increased peak streamflows in wet months and decreased flow in summers.  The need for rivers to have access to floodplains during high flows becomes increasingly important to protect habitats in the mainstem from excessive scour, and to provide refugial habitats on the floodplain.  In summer months, active floodplains will have been recharged by inundation during the wet season, and will be essential sources of cool subsurface return flows during late summer when streamflows are low and water temperatures are high.