DESCRIPTION
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) has worked with the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board Tucannon River Programmatic Habitat, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Umatilla National Forest to complete the restoration of 0.59 miles of Project Area-1 located in the Upper Tucannon River Basin just below the confluence of Panjab Creek. The project involved the placement of LWD, the development of side channels and off channel habitats for the purpose of increasing summer/winter rearing habitat for Tucannon Spring/Summer Chinook. The project was completed in the summer of 2014 and involved the placement of 231 logs >6 m long and 0.30 cm dia. and created 0.36 miles of new side channel.
Project Area
1 (PA-1) is located from the Panjab Creek Bridge (RM 50.1) to just upstream of
the campground near RM 48.9. The project area below RM 49.45 was not
considered as part of this project due to land ownership but may be completed at a later date. The pre-project condition was characterized by low pool habitat, in-stream complexity, and simplified channel
characteristics. In addition, the majority of available
aquatic habitat was comprised of fast-water habitat types such as rapids and
riffles. The overall project goal entailed improving in-stream habitat
complexity and floodplain connectivity that will contribute to improved
spawning and rearing habitat for ESA-listed species. The following Specific objectives have been implemented to support the project goal: Place
LWD at specified locations to increase in-stream habitat
complexity and cover, excavate inlets to isolated side channels to increase floodplain connectivity and place LWD at specified locations at the downstream end of
the project and place
habitat boulders to improve fish
passage at the weir located near Panjab Bridge.
In 2013, CTUIR initiated a field assessment and design of the upper portion of PA-1 RM 49.4 to RM 50, the portion of the project located on WDFW and USFS properties, using CTUIR funding. The lower 1/2 mile, a private section of the project downstream of RM 49.4 to RM 48.9 (described in Anchor 2011 Nov), in accordance with the landowner's wishes was not included in the 2014 design or implementation. The lower reach was surveyed as part of the Anchor Nov 2011 Restoration Plan and was found to be LWD deficient and has potential for a side channel reconnection. The lower section of this project may be considered in the future if the landowner becomes a willing participant in the Programmatic and would likely be designed and implemented in conjunction with PA-2. The overall project objectives were to increase channel complexity, off channel and side channel habitat and floodplain connectivity, through the placement of LWD.
The implementation of the PA-1 (Figure 10) designed instream portion was completed in August 2014 with riparian planting following in Nov/Dec 2014 by CTUIR (additional implementation detail provided in Appendix A. Wood was placed using both conventional construction techniques and a Vertol 107 piloted by Columbia Helicopters. The project added channel complexity and floodplain connectivity to approximately 0.64 miles of the main channel (Table 10). The project placed approximately 231 LWD key pieces (>6m long & 0.3m dia) (Figure 11 & 12), 37 logs (>6m long & 0.15m > 0.3m dia), created 0.36 miles of side channel and enhance 0.06 miles (Table 10) of existing side channel (Figure 13&14). In total, the project increased channel complexity (LWD Key pieces) by 468% from a pre-construction total of 44 pieces (>6m long & >0.3m dia) to 250 pieces post project (Table 12). The post project side channel length increased from 0.19 miles to 0.55 miles (Table 12) a 65% increase, with an overall channel length (including primary and perennial side channels) increased form 0.78 miles to 1.14 miles an increase of 32%.
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