Background: The Tucannon River basin is located in Southeast Washington State in Columbia and Garfield counties. The system-wide restoration objective for the Tucannon River is to improve habitat conditions for Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed species (Snake River Spring Chinook and Steelhead) for all life-history stages. It is expected that improved habitat conditions will lead to an increase in the abundance of listed species returning to the river. Increased abundance will lead to de-listing of the species, which is the overall recovery goal for the system. Previous efforts (CCD 2004; SRSRB 2006; Anchor QEA 2020) have identified the habitat-limiting factors associated with the decline of ESA-listed populations.  

The Tucannon River Geomorphic Assessment & Habitat Restoration Study (Anchor QEA, April 2011) identified and prioritized stream reaches and restoration actions which would best improve habitat for salmonids.  Focusing on the high priority areas for Tucannon spring Chinook, the Columbia Conservation District (CCD) coordinated the development of a habitat restoration plan for the Tucannon River from RM-20 upstream to RM-50; the District continued to work with the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board (SRSRB), through the Tucannon River Programmatic Habitat project, and extended the restoration plan from RM-20 downstream to the confluence of the Snake River.  This Conceptual Restoration Plan (Anchor QEA, November 2011) has prioritized projects into three Tiers (1-3) based on the projected effects of implementation as a benefit to Snake River spring Chinook, cost-efficiency relative to those benefits, and the feasibility of construction.
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Overview:  The Snake River Salmon Recovery Board (SRSRB) manages the Tucannon River Programmatic Habitat Project (2010-077-00) through a parent contract for the operations support, management organization, implementation assistance, and reporting described in this summary.  The goal of the Tucannon River programmatic is to restore habitat function and channel processes in the spring Chinook priority restoration reaches of the Tucannon River, leading to improved population productivity and abundance.  

This BPA support contract will facilitate the development of future projects and the refinement of the work plan as well as soliciting project sponsors for implementation.  WDFW will partner with SRSRB to implement projects; this contract continues the WDFW role anticipated in the Tucannon Habitat Programmatic Project: to help perform project selection, implementation management, monitoring planning, data collection, outreach, and other tasks where WDFW can provide expertise; and to be an implementer of the on-the-ground project construction activities for projects identified in the work plan. In 2023-24 WDFW will work with the Programmatic to identify a new WDFW work plan for the upcoming years based on the outcomes of the Tucannon Conceptual Plan update completed in 2020 and the Floodplain Conceptual Restoration Planning efforts currently underway with completion anticipated in 2023-24.  

Current Emphasis—PA 13 overview:  WDFW will finalize design, finalize permitting, and conduct pre-construction activities for habitat restoration at Project Area 13, conceptually described in the restoration plan (Anchor QEA, Nov 2011) as a priority action for improving spring Chinook, by focusing on increasing floodplain connectivity, channel complexity (perennial length) and habitat complexity. Refer also to FY23 contract #84042 Rel 24 for additional details on the PA 13 design and implementation. Phase II of PA 13 is planned for implementation in summer 2023.

A description of the project area with respect to existing natural processes and habitat conditions is provided in the Design Report (74314 Rel 85), along with the specific physical and biological objectives that the proposed restoration features are expected to achieve.  In addition, the project’s contribution to the overall watershed-scale restoration plan is described. Construction considerations and best management practices are included for the proposed treatment actions.

Project Area 13 underwent concept development and field surveys in (FY15) to prepare preliminary designs and address permitting considerations in 2016 and 2017, with implementation originally anticipated for 2018. Subsequently, in order to maximize the benefits of the project and expand the scale, the contractor (WDFW) deferred further design work and rescheduled the expected implementation work-period to 2020. Contractor continued to coordinate with the Tucannon Management Plan (WDFW) workgroup during implementation of the Rainbow Lake Floodplain Project to inform and further refine the design approach for PA-13. This effort included reviewing workgroup designs and incorporating the restoration strategy from the Management Plan into the design of the project at PA-13, so that habitat benefits could be maximized by utilizing the full extent of the floodplain habitat available in the project area.

In this contract (FY23), the design initiated in 2016 will be updated to reflect year-to-year changes in channel morphology or site conditions, adapt to the floodplain management plan elements, and to adjust to any variations in permit or clearance requirements. Permitting and compliance activities, initiated in 2019, should be complete; the contractor will resubmit the annual HIP IV notification form early in the contract term (Apr 2023). The primary task in this contract period is to manage the implementation of the Phase II design elements finalized in 2019-20 (#74314) and originally planned for construction in 2022, including site preparation and any adjustments to permitting or clearance requirements for Phase II.

This is a unique opportunity for the Programmatic habitat effort in that significant channel length improvements and floodplain connectivity are possible at this site. A complementary project, funded by a legislative capital funds grant (WA) and managed by WDFW, is now complete: an existing fish weir, trap and adjacent impoundment (Rainbow Lake) is reconfigured to reduce the infrastructure footprint in the floodplain. Combined, the two projects create an opportunity for a larger floodplain reactivation and connection in the PA-13 project reach. WDFW, independently and through the programmatic, was engaged in design and implementation considerations to lead the implementation of the Rainbow Lake capital project, maximizing effectiveness and the opportunities represented by the two closely-related projects. In 2019, WDFW partnered with the programmatic in planting the newly created floodplain exposed by removing part of Rainbow Lake, in preparation for increased future floodplain connectivity with the river.

Future project prioritization, concept selection, and preliminary design development:  The 2021 Conceptual Plan (Anchor QEA 2021) has identified a number of adaptive management restoration actions that would greatly increase floodplain connectivity across a number of project areas previously treated over the past ten years (PA10, PA 11 & PA14). The current PA5-15 Floodplain Assessment and Concept Development effort, supported by CTUIR, NPT, and WDFW, are evaluating opportunities to maximize floodplain benefits amongst put-and-take fisheries and ESA listed salmonids in 2023.  It is anticipated this effort will lead to additional adaptive management actions and new floodplain concepts for implementation in 2024-25.  This contract will support that effort in developing restoration concepts from those previous and ongoing efforts leading to the development of conceptual designs and preliminary designs (30%) in future contracts for implementation in 2024/25.
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Management Considerations: The initiation and subsequent management of restoration actions in each identified Project Area within the Tucannon Programmatic occurs generally on a four-year project-cycle overlap.  Each individual project is scheduled and completed across four major elements or sequenced stages:
-- Design, risk review, clearances and permitting,
-- Pre-construction activities (material staging and site preparation),
-- Construction (design implementation), and
-- Reclamation, or site restoration and the remediation of construction impacts.  

Generally, year-one will include design and permitting; year-two will be material acquisition/pre-construction preparation/ logistics considerations; year-three is the construction according to the final design, and the winter/spring of year-four is planting of design features and the re-planting of impacted areas. Therefore, multiple projects will progress simultaneously and not sequentially, and the construction of one project will occur in each year over the duration of the Habitat Programmatic Project. Permits need to be in place prior to all pre-construction activities. The Tucannon River In-Water Work Window is July 15th through August 20th for all the stream reaches located on WDFW public lands.  Site plantings (design features) and reclamation (impact remediation) will occur the spring following the project construction. Tree planting during the late fall–early spring is the critical period for plant survival, because the area has limited annual precipitation (approximately 12”-13”), mostly occurring in the winter and spring months.