Status: In Progress

Location:

The project area consists of the Beaver Creek watershed (HUC #170103010701), a tributary to the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River in Shoshone County, Idaho. The project area is about 4 miles west-southwest of the town of Murray, ID and 9.3 miles north of Wallace, ID and the Silver Valley. Located in T48N, R4E, Sections 2-4, 6, 9-11; T49N, R3E, Sections 11-14, 24; T49N, R4E, Sections 1-30, 32-36; T49N, R5E, Sections 7, 17-21; T50N, R4E, Sections 32-35.

Background:

The Beaver Creek watershed is a 44-square-mile tributary to the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River. It contains rural areas of forests, recreational lots, rangeland, and has a long history of timber harvest, mining, and road construction on public and private lands. This project will focus on addressing historic mining and timber practices that altered hydrologic function and degraded stream and riparian habitat in uncontaminated tributaries. Improving natural processes will accelerate the rate of recovery providing habitat that can sustain aquatic life and riparian-dependent species. These tributaries are adjacent or near streams that were severely degraded by historic mining practices. They are relevant to enhancing injured fish populations because they serve as important refugia in the watershed. They are resilient to natural disturbance and will provide individuals to colonize newly restored reaches as additional work occurs. Additionally, this project would protect and enhance habitat function and processes that will benefit westslope cutthroat trout.

Progress:

Beaver Creek was recently accepted (fall of 2023) as a project consistent with Coeur d’Alene Basin Restoration Plan by the Trustees of the Restoration Partnership. Initial project work of this multi-phased and multi-year project will begin in the summer of 2024 starting in the headwaters of the tributaries. This project will ultimately result in strengthened and expanded refugia for westslope cutthroat trout by using a watershed-scale approach to protect and enhance streams adjacent to injured areas and riparian areas injured by mining activities or mine wastes in the Beaver Creek watershed. Many streams in this drainage are contaminated by metals or have been severely altered through mining activities and do not currently support the thriving westslope cutthroat trout fisheries that they once did.

Project activities would improve the hydrology and habitat function of tributary streams so that they may serve as cold water refugia where westslope cutthroat trout persist and provide a source to repopulate the mainstem of Beaver Creek once remediation and restoration activities are completed. Portions of tributaries that are not currently accessible to all life stages of fish or during all flow conditions would be reconnected by replacing inadequate stream crossing culverts with Aquatic Organism Passage structures.

Plans:

Over 100 acres of riparian habitat along 17 miles of stream would be directly enhanced through activities to restore native vegetation, adding large wood or other structure (e.g., beaver dam analogs) to streams, and discouraging unauthorized motorized access to stream channels.

Additional miles of occupied and non-fish-bearing streams would be enhanced by reducing sediment delivery from forest roads through either decommissioning or long-term storage activities. The effects of sediment reduction activities would trickle down and contribute cumulatively to better water quality in Beaver Creek and the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River.

Benefits:

The project will ultimately restore hydrologic function and westslope cutthroat trout habitat to uncontaminated tributaries of Beaver Creek. These efforts will not only benefit aquatic species but will also benefit other wildlife by increasing the amount of functioning, high quality habitat, and improving water quality.

Contact:

Chris Robinson
Hydrologist
Idaho Panhandle National Forests, Coeur d'Alene River Ranger District
2502 E Sherman Ave
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
p: 208-769-3067
christopher.robinson2@usda.gov

Will Young
Fish Biologist
Idaho Panhandle National Forests, Coeur d'Alene River Ranger District
2502 E Sherman Ave
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
p: 208-769-3000
will.young@usda.gov

Wade Jerome
Restoration Biologist
Idaho Panhandle National Forests
173 Commerce Drive
Smelterville, ID. 83868
p: 208-783-2363 x2127
c: 208-512-5097
Terry.Jerome@usda.gov

Sponsor:

USDA-Forest Service

Partners:

Trout Unlimited