Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCCESS STORY
Stakeholders Collaborate to Reduce Sediment and Restore Fish Habitat
in Bear Valley Creek
A/ K r\ I r\ Sediment from historical dredge-mining, livestock grazing and
VaterDOay 11 fl proved roads degraded water qua|ity in Idaho's Bear Valley Creek. As
a result, the stream was added to Idaho's 1994 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list for
sediment impairment. Tribal, state and federal partners cooperated on sediment-reduction projects.
Monitoring now shows that sediment no longer impairs cold-water aquatic life in two Bear Valley
Creek assessment units (AUs). As a result, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ)
removed the third-order AU (ID17060205SL012 _ 03) from the state's list of impaired waters during
the 2008 reporting cycle and is proposing to remove the fourth-order AU (ID17060205SL012 _ 04)
during the 2014 reporting cycle.
Problem
Bear Valley Creek joins Marsh Creek to form the
Middle Fork Salmon River in west-central Idaho
(Figure 1). Streams in the mountainous, 191-square
mile Bear Valley Creek watershed provide important
habitat for trout and salmon. This predominately for-
ested watershed falls entirely within national forest
land and includes 154 miles of access roads. Before
2001, livestock grazing occurred on the meadows
growing in the unconsolidated sandy soil of the valley
bottom.
Between 1956 and 1959, dredge mining of private
land occurred in the upper watershed, obliterating
17,000 linear feet of Bear Valley Creek and 10,000 lin-
ear feet of tributary channels. Subsequently, a flood
event in 1984 caused further damage with the mas-
sive erosion of tailing materials.
In 1994 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) added Bear Valley Creek to the CWA section
303(d) list of impaired waters on the basis of IDEQ's
1992 section 305(b) water quality assessment report.
Project Highlights
Between 1985 and 1989, the Shoshone-Bannock
Tribe restored the previously mined area. The tribe
graded and vegetated eroding stream banks to
reestablish a functioning floodplain along 1.5 miles of
stream, preventing an additional 250,000 to 500,000
cubic yards of mining overburden from entering the
stream. In 1989 the mineral resource owners sold the
land to the federal government.
Bear Valley Watershed
Legend
SubwaterslKi(ls-HUC6
I I Watashed Boundary
Boise N.F.
Streams
Major Rivers
Figure 1. Bear Valley Creek in west-central Idaho.
In the 1990s the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) partnered
with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)
to implement modified grazing strategies on the
watershed's livestock grazing allotments to protect
salmon species and their habitats. Partners' efforts
included planting willows in riparian areas, installing
revetments and flow deflectors to stabilize erod-
ing streambanks, and installing fences to exclude
livestock from streams. In 2001 the USFS closed the
Bear Valley Creek livestock grazing allotment, perma-
nently removing a major source of erosion.
In 2003 the Idaho Department of Fish and Game
(IDFG) and numerous partners implemented a
-------
Figure 2. Bear Valley Creek before (left) and after (right)
livestock grazing was removed. This bar is gradually
recovering as perennial vegetation becomes established.
riparian restoration project along Upper Bear Valley
Creek. Volunteers planted native willows, sedges and
grasses at 14 sites.
From 2009 to 2011, USFS used the Geomorphic Road
Analysis and Inventory Package (GRAIP) to identify
key locations where road sediment entered Bear
Valley streams. Using this information, the USFS
completed numerous road remediation projects to
address prioritized source areas. Because numerous
sediment control efforts existed or were planned,
the USFS and IDEQ developed an Integrated Report
Category 4b ("other pollution controls in place") justi-
fication in 2011 to show that a sediment total maxi-
mum daily load for the watershed was unnecessary.
In 2010 the USFS led an effort to restore the stream
channel and riparian areas of Casner Creek, an Upper
Bear Valley Creek tributary that flows through the
historically dredge-mined area.
Results
Monitoring results using IDEQ streambank stabil-
ity (SS) methods in the third-order AU (Bear Valley
Creek between Sheep Trail and Cache Creeks) show
SS averaged 97 percent stable in 2004 and 2007. In
2008 and 2012, SS assessments in the fourth-order
AU (Bear Valley Creek from Cache Creek to Elk Creek)
averaged 94.5 and 98.1 percent stable, respectively.
Therefore, both the third- and fourth-order AUs meet
the Pacific Anadromous Fish Strategy (PACFISH)
riparian management objective of a 90 percent SS
minimum threshold established for salmon streams.
Between 2004 and 2012, IDEQ completed Beneficial
Use Reconnaissance Program (BURP) wadeable
streams rapid bioassessments on the third- and
fourth-order Bear Valley Creek AUs. The BURP
assesses stream health using multimetric indices
(biological, physical and chemical) on a 0.0 (lowest)
to 3.0 (highest) scale. In 2004 BURP results for the
third-order AU showed stream macroinvertebrate
index (SMI) score of 3.0, a stream fish index (SFI)
score of 2.0 and a stream habitat index (SHI) score
of 1.0, with an average score of 2.0, the minimum
threshold considered supportive of beneficial
uses, according to IDEQ's Water Body Assessment
Guidance. Therefore, in 2008 IDEQ moved the 2.08-
mile third-order AU from the list of impaired waters
(for sediment impairment) to Category 2—fully sup-
porting assessed uses.
IDEQ performed BURP assessments on the fourth-
order AU in 2008 and 2012. The 2008 assessment
yielded an SMI score of 3.0 and an SHI score of 1.0
(SFI was not included in the assessment). The aver-
age score was 2.0 (supporting cold-water aquatic
life). In 2012 the fourth-order BURP scores were 3.0
for both the SMI and SHI. The 3.0 was the highest
score possible, indicating continued full support of
beneficial uses. In 2008 IDEQ collected percent fines
data documenting that 21 percent of the substrate
consisted of material less than or equal to 2.5 millime-
ters in size. This value dropped to 9 percent in 2012.
According to DEQ's Guide to Selection of Sediment
Targets for Use in Idaho TMDLs, most impairment is
noted when percent fines of this size make up more
than 30 percent of the substrate. As a result of these
data, in the 2014 reporting cycle IDEQ is proposing to
move the 7.36-mile fourth-order AU from the state's
list of impaired waters (for sediment impairment) to
Category 2—fully supporting assessed uses.
Partners and Funding
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes administered the
project restoring the dredged and heavily eroding
area in the Upper Bear Valley Creek watershed, with
participation from Idaho and the USFS Boise National
Forest and with $2.8 million in funding from the fed-
eral BPA. The USFS implemented the additional ripar-
ian and streambank restoration work throughout the
watershed using a variety of USFS funding programs,
as well as fish restoration funding from BPA. IDFG
led the 2003 community-driven restoration project,
with help from numerous partners (Trout Unlimited,
Boise Valley Fly Fisherman, Borah High School and
the Boise National Forest) and with $5,000 in grant
funding support from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's Community-based
Restoration Program. Through an interagency agree-
ment, in 2009 EPA provided $57,000 to the USFS for
GRAIP roads analysis. In 2010 a $33,000 CWA sec-
tion 319 grant supported the restoration of an Upper
Bear Valley Creek tributary.
I
3
s
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-15-001MM
September 2015
For additional information contact:
Hawk Stone
DEQ Boise Regional Office
208-373-0550
hawk.stone@deq.idaho.gov
------- |