Project aims to boost steelhead habitat

Idaho Fish and Game is planning a summer project aimed at restoring habitat for endangered steelhead south of Troy.

Robert Hand, a biologist with Fish and Game, spoke to the Latah County Commissioners on Monday about the work at the West Fork of Little Bear Creek, next to the Latah Trail.

Hand told the Daily News historic land use practices have caused a lack of water flow in that area, high water temperatures in the summer, excessively cold temperatures in the winter and too much sediment that washes in from farm fields and roads.

The project along the West Fork of Little Bear Creek is intended to improve steelhead rearing habitat.

“The population is really low,” Hand said about the steelhead. “It’s a pretty critical situation with very low numbers of fish coming back each year.”

Douglas Construction won the bid to work with Fish and Game on the project. Contractors will build wooden structures that will slow the water and create pools that make it easier for juvenile steelhead to survive.

“That also gives them a chance to grow more and the bigger they get, the more likely they’re able to survive when they get to the ocean a year or two later,” Hand said.

A nearby landowner has given Fish and Game permission to cut down trees from their property to make the structures.

Hand said crews will also plant cottonwood trees and willows to stabilize the stream bank, provide shade for the fish and create a natural habitat that was lost when trees were logged years ago.

“It’s just, from a habitat standpoint, very sterile right now,” Hand said. “So we’re trying to kind of get it back to a more natural state that can support more steelhead.”

Hand said Fish and Game is hoping to get started on the project in late July or early August. The Latah Trail may have to be closed or partially closed during construction for several days, Hand said. Fish and Game plans to install a sign letting people know about the coming project

Hand said contractors are being advised not to drive their vehicles on the Latah Trail. They will instead travel on a nearby dirt road.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.