The Middle Touchet River Major Spawning Area for Mid-Columbia steelhead includes the river reach beginning at the confluence of the Whetstone Drainage downstream of the town of Prescott, upstream to the confluence with Patit Creek. The major tributaries of the MSA include the Coppei Creek, Whiskey Creek. In total the recovery goal for the MSA is part of the Upper Touchet River totaling between the two 1000 adult returning fish. The restoration goal has been set at approximately 1600 for the reach in an effort to provide surplus fish. The reach has been classified a restoration reach the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board beginning at the HWY 12 Bridge upstream from the Bolles Rd. Restoration actions in this reach include restoration that addresses one or more of the limiting factors listed as follows; I. Embeddedness: Less than 10%, II. Temperature: No more than 4 days above 72ºF, III. Large Woody Debris: 1 piece per channel width, IV. Confinement: 15 to 40% of streambank length. In addition to addressing the limiting factors the recovery efforts are directed to "Imminent Threats" which are defined as fish screens, fords, low stream flows, gravel berms.
Coppei Creek a major tributary to the MSA has been divided into two priority designation reaches with a priority restoration reach beginning at the confluence of the reach extending up river to McCowan Road. From the McCowan Rd bridge upstream the creek is designated a priority protection. This stream reach had been designated priority restoration but since restoration action review in 2009 the SRSRB Regional Technical Team determined progress made reduced the restoration need in the upper watershed.
Coppei Creek is strong contributor to adult steelhead returning in the Touchet River. In the winter of 2009 and the spring of 2010 more than 223 adult steelhead migrated upstream to spawn in that tributary. The total number of steelhead spawning in the MSA is not currently known due to the difficulty of counting fish in high water when they spawn. Fish counts are determined in the Upper Touchet MSA at the Dayton fish Trap.
For more information on adult returns visit the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board Website at:
http://www.snakeriverboard.org/index.htm