Headwaters Restoration
The Headwaters Restoration Partnership Project began in 1999 as a multi-year rehabilitation and restoration project with the goals of improving habitat for native fish species including but not limited to wild redband rainbow trout and westslope cutthroat trout. The project was initiated by the Yaak Valley Forest Council to help strengthen relationships with the state and federal agencies that manage the terrestrial and aquatic habitats within the headwaters of the Yaak River while implementing restoration projects.
We started small with a couple of culvert replacements in redband habitat. Now, nearly twelve years later, the YVFC initiated Headwaters Project has:
- Coordinated and implemented over 40 miles of road decommissioning projects;
- Created or improved over 20 miles of non-motorized trails where degraded roads once existed;
- Surveyed between 500-600 miles of streams in the Yaak watershed;
- Built a strong network of partners that includes agencies and regional NGO’s;
- Implemented cutting edge experimental projects to address sediment load in the fisheries;
- Brought nearly $1,000,000 of habitat restoration-based funding into Lincoln County, Montana, much of which is paid to local residents who have been trained by project partners to do the specialized fieldwork needed to accomplish the restoration goals;
- Made considerable progress toward the design of a Yaak Watershed Restoration Plan using the data collected through years of stream surveys as well as the monitoring portion of the project;
- Began working with NGOs and agency representatives in southern British Columbia to address and replicate watershed restoration efforts in the Canada portions of the Upper Yaak River, which will make the Headwaters Project an international, transboundary habitat restoration effort covering the entire basin.
- Hand cleared 40 culverts that were badly plugged with debris and threatened to deposit large amounts of sediment into streams:
Headwaters Project - After Photo
- Established 10 PIBO sites on streams in the Yaak watershed. PIBO is short for the USFS Pacfish/Infish Biological Opinion Assessment Monitoring program. PIBO began in 1999 in response to the listing of Steelhead and Bull Trout on the Endangered Species list. It is an in depth protocol of stream measurements that ascertain the ability of the aquatic system to support healthy populations of these fish. We are the only NGO that is trained and conducting these surveys.
- By mid-January 2011, the partnership will have incorporated the sediment source survey data, the Montana DEQ’s water quality studies in the Yaak watershed and fisheries data from the Kootenai National Forest into a comprehensive database that will allow analysis of all available data and create a strategic restoration plan for the headwaters of the Yaak River. The partnership will begin implementing the plan in 2011.
The partnership plans to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011 incorporating information about critical wildlife habitat - including grizzly bear habitat – to give a more comprehensive overview of terrestrial and aquatic restoration opportunities. The partnership acts as an advisory group with agencies. The USFS, USFWS, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks retain all decision-making authority and any projects that come from this data analysis go through normal NEPA and public comment processes. The restoration work generated by this analysis provides “green-collar” jobs that can help build a restoration-based economy for the local community. For more information about the project, please contact Peter Leusch, pete@yaakvalley.org.