DESCRIPTION
The Kalispell Tribe used this funding to replace a perched pipe arch culvert with a bottomless arch culvert on a Forest Service road on the North Fork of the South Fork of Tacoma Creek in WRIA 62, restoring fish passage for bull trout, west-slope cutthroat trout and other native species to approximately 3 miles of suitable spawning and rearing habitat. The project also restored stream channel form and function to a 100-foot section of stream above the location of the removed fish passage barrier.
The project constructed a temporary diversion culvert, removed the fill and existing culvert, installed the bottomless pipe arch and fill, placed and formed the rock substrate inside the structure (including upstream and downstream of project footprint for grade control), placed large woody debris in specific locations for additional grade control, then removed the temporary bypass and constructed and re-graded the road prism. The Kalispel Tribe, as part of the cost share, re-vegetated the impacted areas upstream and downstream of the project site. This work included planting willow stakes (three locally adapted species) and dogwood in the affected area, placing willow fascines at the shoreline, and placing certified weed-free straw and tree boughs to exposed soils for erosion control.
The North Fork of the South Fork of Tacoma Creek Creek is a tributary to Tacoma Creek, which is tributary to the Pend Oreille River in northeastern Washington. Historically, bull trout from Lake Pend Oreille migrated down the Pend Oreille River and spawned and reared in tributaries such as Tacoma Creek.
The Draft Bull Trout Recovery Plan (USFWS 2002) identified restoration of fish passage in the Tacoma Creek subbasin as a high priority action, necessary for recovery of bull trout in the Pend Oreille Core Area.