River restoration work to continue
August 4, 2013
This summer and fall the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho will be leading construction of two river habitat restoration projects in the braided reaches of the Kootenai River upstream from Bonners Ferry.

These two projects are part of a Bonneville Power Administration funded, multi-year habitat restoration program in the Kootenai River. In addition, Burlington Northern Santa Fe is providing some mitigation funding for one of the projects.

Kootenai Tribal Council member Gary Aiken Jr. said, “Through building these projects we hope to create better habitat conditions in the river for Kootenai River white sturgeon, burbot and other native fish.”

A major focus of the restoration program is on helping to recover endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon.

“Kootenai sturgeon are spawning in an area of the river right below Bonners Ferry near Shorty’s Island,” Councilman Aiken Jr. explained. “The spawning seems to go okay, but then something happens between the time the sturgeon eggs are deposited on the river bottom and the fish grow up.”

Sue Ireland, Director of the Kootenai Tribe’s Fish and Wildlife Department explained, “Because of where the sturgeon are spawning, the eggs are currently deposited over clay shelves and over sandy areas on the river bottom. But what sturgeon need is rock and gravel material where their eggs can stick when they are first deposited, and where the larvae can hide for a while among the rocks after they hatch so they aren’t eaten by something else.”

The biologists who study Kootenai sturgeon believe that the eggs aren’t surviving to hatch, or the eggs are hatching but the larvae aren’t surviving during the very early stage of their life.

Two different habitat restoration strategies are being implemented by the Tribe to address this lack of survival of the sturgeon eggs or larvae.

One strategy is to place the right kind of rocky substrate on the river bottom in the meander reaches of the river where sturgeon are currently spawning; in other words, to bring better habitat to the fish. The Tribe will be implementing a project to do just this near Shorty’s Island in the winter of 2013 or 2014.

The other approach is to encourage the sturgeon to migrate and spawn farther upstream where there the right kind of rocky substrate is already on the river bottom; that is, to encourage the fish to go to the better habitat.

One possible reason that the sturgeon don’t currently move further upstream to the better habitat above Bonners Ferry is the lack of deep water and places to rest through the straight and braided reaches of the river near Bonners Ferry.

But the challenge with providing deeper water through the straight and braided reaches is how to do that without putting any more water into the river and increasing the risk of flooding.

To meet this challenge the Tribe, working with multi-disciplinary teams of biologists, hydrologists, engineers, modelers, and river restoration experts, came up with the idea of creating a chain of pools through the straight and braided reaches.

“The idea,” said Ireland, “is to create a sort of ladder of deep pools that sturgeon and other fish can use by moving upstream from pool to pool. The pools will provide deep water for sturgeon to rest and feed as they move upstream and to stage for spawning."

One of the two river restoration projects being built this summer, called the Middle Meander Project, includes development of these deep pools.

The pools will be created through a construction of fin shaped structures that will help direct water away from the riverbank and minimize erosion, while also helping scour and maintain the pools. The 2013 project will also include some excavation work to create an especially deep pool.

The areas between the fin shaped structures will create eddies and will be shaped into alcoves that will provide places for Kootenai sturgeon and other native fish to rest and feed. These low flow alcove areas will also support development of floodplain areas.

Pools created by the 2013 project will link up with pools created through a similar project the Tribe constructed in 2012. The 2013 Middle Meander Project will also include re-grading of a portion of the riverbank, creation of a riparian buffer and some fencing to manage grazing.

The second 2013 project is an extension of side channel restoration work that was completed in 2011. The project will include the re-grading of an eroding streambank, riparian plantings, and improvements to side channel habitat that is used by a number of different native fish species.

Although a major focus of the river habitat restoration work is providing habitat for Kootenai sturgeon, making sure that there is a variety of habitats that support burbot and other native fish is also important to the Tribe. The chain of pools and other habitat actions will provide habitat for foraging, migration and overwintering for other native fish including burbot and bull trout.

The Tribe will monitor all of the projects over a number of years to see if they work as they are supposed to. The Tribe is also coordinating with Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the University of Idaho to monitor the biological response of sturgeon and other native fish to these and other river restoration projects.

Both projects include work on privately owned land or require access through private land.

Patty Perry, the Tribal Administrative Director, said, “We couldn’t implement this project without the support and cooperation of those landowners.”

Construction work in the water will take place during a two to three month period from September through mid-November because of the need to do the work during low flow and also due to Endangered Species Act regulations for some projects.

Because of this short in-water construction season work may possibly occur six and sometimes seven days a week during these two months to three months.

Construction contractors are currently staging materials and equipment and will begin land based construction work in August.

During construction, local residents will see some increased construction traffic. There will also be some noise associated with the pile driving while the fin shaped structures are being created. Contractors will be pre-drilling the pile holes to minimize noise disturbance associated with pile driving.

In addition, local residents may also hear some heavy equipment noise associated with the bank re-grading, construction of large wood structures and related activities. There will also be increased silt in the river for a short period of time during the excavation of the large pool.

Throughout the construction the Tribe’s contractors will be implementing best management practices to control silt, site disturbances, and other impacts from construction.

Councilman Aitken, Jr. said, “The Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Program is very important to the Tribe. It will help to restore the Kootenai people’s resources and culture and provide multiple short and long term benefits to the local community.”

Additional information about the project is available on the Tribe’s website at www.restoringthekootenai.org.