Alpowa Creek originates in the Northeast side of the Blue Mountains of Southeast Washington State and drain into the lower Snake River. The creek was historically known to support a modest population of Snake River ESU steelhead with estimated potential exceeding 500 adults. As a result the creek was identified as a Major Spawning Aggregation for steelhead. The Alpowa Creek steelhead are currently considered part of the Asotin Creek spawning population, and a segment of the Snake River ESU. Genetic sampling is currently underway through the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife to determine if these fish are indeed a single population.

Beginning in 2008, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife placed an adult fish trap in the lower creek to estimate the number of adult steelhead entering the tributary to spawn. In 2008 a total of 170 adult steelhead were trapped in a partial effort, which missed a large portion of the season. The 2009 effort capture 410 adult fish moving into the river and the 2010 preliminary numbers have captured > 500 adults. The WDFW will continue to monitor this population in future years to better understands is rigor and its importance to the Asotin Creek population.

In the Snake River Salmon Recovery Plan, Alpowa Creek is designated a priority restoration reach beginning in 2011 with the following limiting factors and restoration objectives:

- Imminent threats - fish screens, low stream flow, obstructions
- Riparian: restore to 80 of maximum
- Embeddedness: < 10%
- Temperature: < 4 days > 72F
-Large Wood Debris: > 1 key piece per channel width

The SRSRB sported a general assessment of the upper drainage to determine the restoration action that could be implemented with community support for the purpose of salmon habitat restorations. The outcomes of this study will be available beginning in December of 2012.