Lower South Fork Clearwater River

Nez Perce TribeDFRM Watershed Division

Mark Johnson-Project Leadermarkj@nezperce.org

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2013 Geographic ReviewProject: 2010-003-00

May 2, 2013

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Project Map Lower South Fork Clearwater River Project:

301, 000 Acres

1,047 stream miles

Focal species-Snake River ESU listed steelhead, spring chinook, bull trout

Merger of two former BPA funded projects

Original project began in 1997

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Vicinity Map

Crooked River

American River

NewsomeCreek

Red River

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Limiting Factors The project focus is on the key limiting factors:

high water temperatures migration barriers excess sediment degraded riparian conditions

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Activities/ Accomplishments We are addressing limiting factors by: riparian planting and protection barrier removal/replacement

71,000 plants 388 Acres invasive

weed treatment

15 miles fence installed & maintained

protecting 5.9 miles of streambank in sensitive meadows

15 barriers removed/replaced

access to 23.9 miles of potential habitat

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Activities/ Accomplishments We are addressing limiting factors by: removing unneeded roads restoring natural stream conditions

126 miles of roads decommissioned

0.7 miles of roads improved

600 feet of stream restored

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Response to Previous ISRP Comments

This project has not previously undergone ISRP review, however there has been previous comments on the parent projects which were used in the adaptive management process:

Define Design

EvaluateAdjust

ADAPTIVEMANAGEMENT

STRATEGY

Comment- ISRP commented on the deficiency of a synthesized monitoring approach. NPT response- development of the “NPT DFRM Watershed Division, Tributary Habitat Programmatic Monitoring and Evaluation Plan”

Comment- ISRP questioned the use of hard-engineered methods for increasing instream habitat complexity. NPT response- use of hard-engineered methods was reduced in future actions.

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Research, Monitoring, & Evaluation

Implementation and Compliance- All projects monitored post

construction Assess project function over time

and provide adaptive management feedback loops

Focused Status and Trend- Selected parameters based on the

limiting factors including temperature, cobble embeddedness, and fish presence/absence

18 paired sites in 9 key sub-watersheds

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McComas Meadows Riparian Vegetation Exclosure fence installed in 1997 Planting began in 2000 Over 50,000 trees and shrubs planted

1992

2008

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Temperature Data

Temperature Difference Between Upper McComas Meadows and Lower McComas Meadows

R2 = 0.615

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3

6

9

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Year

Tem

pera

ture

Diff

eren

ce (°

C)

Absolute max temp diff Predicted Absolute max temp diff

Linear (Absolute max temp diff)

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Fish Data

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Past Projects 2000-2013

Barrier ReplacementsFencing ProjectsMonitoring SitesPlanting SitesRoad DecommissioningRoad ImprovementsStream RestorationProject BoundarySub-WatershedsCritical Sub-Watersheds

Lower South Fork Clearwater River

Project Area

Proposed Projects 2014-2018

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Proposed Projects 2014-2018 7 barrier replacements, accessing 11.4 miles 4 road decommissioning projects, totaling 50 miles 5 road improvement projects, totaling 11.3 miles 2 stream restoration projects, totaling 1800 feet planting 10,000 native riparian plants ongoing fence maintenance, ongoing monitoring

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Questions ?