Kittitas Conservation Trust used this planning grant to conduct a comprehensive hydrologic, geomorphic and biologic habitat assessment in the lower 3 miles of Gold Creek and to develop conceptual engineering plans to restore perennial flow and improve degraded Bull Trout habitat in the watershed. Gold Creek is a head waters tributary to the upper Yakima River that originates in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and then flows into Lake Keechelus near Snoqualmie Pass in northern Kittitas County (WRIA 39). The primary goal of the assessment was to investigate the causes of Bull Trout mortality such as seasonal dewatering, spatial constraints and habitat degradation, then design restoration actions that employ natural fluvial processes to reverse the decline in population. Bull trout were listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1998. The Gold Creek Bull Trout population became geographically isolated after completion of the Lake Keechelus Dam in 1917 and is designated as a high priority Action population in the Yakima Bull Trout Action Plan. The Action Plan identifies channel dewatering, low abundance, and passage barriers at Keechelus Dam as the primary factors for population decline. In addition to Bull Trout, the project will benefit anadromous fish populations in the upper Yakima River basin when fish passage at Keechelus Dam is restored.