1. A summary paragraph describing your IMW project. It should be a short overview
narrative describing your IMW, including the following information:
a.
Information on what the restoration action you are applying?
b. The magnitude (how much you are doing, structures/km, area of
floodplain, etc)
c. When did you start monitoring and restoration (i.e., pre treatment data
vs post treatment data)?
d. What changes have you seen in habitat and fish? no response is still a
response
The Potlatch River is the largest tributary to the lower Clearwater River, Idaho. The drainage contains a
strong population of wild steelhead. Monitoring of the Potlatch River was initiated in 2005 to establish
baseline levels of steelhead production and productivity. Big Bear Creek was selected as an index
tributary for fish in/fish out monitoring within the lower Potlatch River drainage. Adult steelhead weirs
and a rotary screw trap have been operated on the Big Bear drainage since 2005. The addition of NOAA
Intensively Monitored Watershed (IMW) Funds in 2008 allowed fish in/fish out monitoring to also be
conducted using similar methods in the upper Potlatch River drainage on the East Fork Potlatch River.
Since 2008 both the Big Bear Creek (lower drainage) and East Fork Potlatch River (upper drainage) have
been monitored within the IMW framework. Additional aspects of the study have included juvenile
density and distribution data collection throughout the drainage (snorkel and e-fishing), habitat surveys,
and roving PIT tagging. This work has been conducted within the index tributaries (treatment) as well as
adjacent steelhead bearing tributaries (control) within the Potlatch River. Limiting factors within the
drainage were identified based on a Qualitative Habitat Analysis model using previous fish and habitat
data. The analysis determined two major limiting factors to be addressed, one in the lower basin and
one in the upper basin. The most significant limiting factor in the lower drainage is limited late-summer
rearing habitat due to sever dewatering in the lower drainage. Habitat restoration efforts are geared
towards increasing late summer habitat available in two ways 1) barrier removal to open up new habitat
and 2) increase late summer instream flow through water release strategies in headwater reservoirs. In
the upper basin habitat restoration efforts are geared towards addressing the main limiting factor of a
lack of instream complexity (i.e. pool density and hyporehic groundwater inputs). Habitat restoration
efforts are underway in both lower and upper index tributaries to address the identified limiting factors.
2. In addition to these summary paragraphs, if you feel there is an area where your
project has excelled or a particular lesson learned you wish to share with others, we
would greatly appreciate a short vignette from you. The goal of the vignettes is to allow
people to share details about their projects. Below are the categories we have identified,
if there is another area you would like to highlight, feel free.
Selecting a Watershed or Monitoring Scale and scope adaptive management
The Potlatch River drainage is a large (152,621 ha) watershed. Given the size of the
Potlatch River drainage, we determined it would be more feasible to monitor two
tributaries to the Potlatch River rather than the entire drainage. The environmental
characteristics of the upper and lower drainages are also very different. Collecting data
for the IMW on two index tributaries within the larger drainage was a successful
approach that provided a much higher level of understanding of the steelhead
population within the Potlatch River drainage than trying to monitor the entire drainage
in the IMW framework.
Limiting Factors
We were very fortunate to have a readily apparent limiting factor within the lower
Potlatch River portion of the IMW. Habitat surveys conducted during the IMW effort
have documented significant de-watering of steelhead rearing habitat during late
summer. Identification of this limiting factor has given us a concrete restoration strategy
within the lower Potlatch River drainage.
Restoration Planning and Implementation
IMW funds within the Potlatch River have been focused on fish monitoring. Habitat
restoration actions have been funded through other sources (PCSRF, BPA, etc.) and
have been implemented by a variety of partners working within the drainage. It has
been extremely important to maintain a strong working relationship with habitat
restoration partners to integrate findings of the IMW monitoring into habitat restoration
approaches. In addition, it has taken time to direct habitat restoration efforts into index
tributaries rather than the “shotgun” opportunities approach that were initially
implemented across the entire drainage.