Restoration project to protect watersheds

Bull trout are a fickle fish, picky about where they spawn and sensitive to change, according to Forest Service Fisheries Biologist Beth Gardner.

Protecting the quality of spawning habitat for bull trout, as well as other species is just one of the goals behind the Forest Service’s Chilly James Restoration Project.

The Chilly James Restoration project area encompasses the Jim Creek, Cold Creek and Swan River-Pony Creek watersheds and is approximately 41,232 acres.

The Forest Service began working on the assessment for the project, with surveying in 2012 and input gathered from the public in 2013.

Recently they released the environmental assessment outlining the reason for the project and the actions to be taken.

Jim Creek and Cold Creek watersheds have been identified as needing water quality and fish habitat restoration. Past management practices and logging have negatively affected the watershed. Jim Creek has been listed as impaired by the Montana DEQ since 1988 for sediment.

Both Jim Creek and Cold Creek have been spawning habitat for bull trout for thousands of years, according to the environmental assessment. The fish rear in the streams for one to three years then migrate downstream to Swan Lake. Eventually they return to the creeks to spawn. The best habitat for bull trout spawning is in the lower half of Jim Creek and most of the North and Middle forks of Cold Creek.

While Jim Creek is considered impaired, Gardner said the spawning habitat is actually in great shape. However, she said it is important to keep it that way, because once it’s been degraded, it’s much harder to repair.

The bulk of the project is focused on the road system in the area. There are about 209 miles of road in the Chilly James project area.

By decommissioning some roads, recontouring others and implementing best management practices on others, project managers hope to reduce the amount of sediment in the creeks, thus improving hydrologic function and aquatic and terrestrial habitat.

“Roads are the primary source of impact to trout streams around there,” Gardner said. “Bull trout are particularly sensitive to fine sediment. They spawn on clean gravel. It’s important to keep those spawning areas clean.”

Gardner said they also use bull trout as a measurement for what will benefit other life in the watershed. Since they are so sensitive, she said, what is good for the bull trout, is usually good for the other fish and aquatic life forms.

From the 1950s to the 1990s the Forest Service and Plum Creek Timber Company harvested timber throughout the lower two thirds of the watersheds. To do this, many roads were built. The roads vary in their impact to water quality. Some have poorly designed stream crossings that contribute to sediment. Others have minimal effect.

In 2010 the Forest Service received nearly all of the Plum Creek land holdings in the Chilly James Restoration Project area through a donation from the Nature Conservancy. This provided an opportunity to reconsider the transportation network.

Most of the current road system in the area is closed to the public. Gardner said that the roads that are open to the public would remain so. Some of those roads may receive some upgrades, such as new culverts and drive through drain dips.

The drain dips, Gardner said, are like a dipped speed bump in the road that redirects water away from the creeks, and toward the plants and the ground, reducing sediment.

“That doesn’t change the access, but the little speed bump makes all the difference in the world,” Gardner said.

Proposed actions includes implementing best management practices on 20 miles of roads. Swan Lake District Ranger Rich Kehr said this includes improving drainage and buffer areas to minimize road impacts on the watersheds. 

The plan also proposed placing about nine miles of roads into intermittent stored service/waterproofing, passively decommissioning an estimated 14 miles of system roads, actively decommissioning about 5.7 miles of roads that have negative impacts on water quality and fish habitat. 

The plan would also decommission and recontour about 2.4 miles of roads that are no longer needed and impact water quality. Kehr said some road work and bridge replacement that has already been done in the area has already helped to improve the condition of the watersheds.

“These particular drainages were in considerably worse condition in the past,” he said.

With the completion of the restoration project he said the hope would be to have Jim Creek no longer be considered impaired.

The other piece of the project is to continue to try to reduce the spread of invasive plants.

Knapweed and other noxious weeds are fairly common, Kehr said, and the Forest Service has ongoing mitigation efforts.

“They outcompete native vegetation then consequently impact vegetation cover,” Kehr said. Invasive plants can also impact soils and wildlife habitat, he said.

The roads, as well as grazing, private land development and recreation influenced the rate of establishment of invasive plant species. Most of these activities took place in the 1960s. “Those invasive species, a lot of them have a long history in the area now,” Kehr said. 

“I don’t know that we would ever be able to eradicate them. Unfortunately both humans and wild life transport them from spot to spot.”

Public comment is now being accepted for the project, and the full environmental assessment can be found on the National Forest Service Web site.

Kehr said once the public comment period is over, they will review the comments and then release a final environmental assessment and draft decision. There would then be a 40-day objection period. If any objections arise there will be a 45-day objection resolution period. Once objections are resolved, work on the project could begin.

Kehr said the hope is for work to start next year. He estimated the project would take about four weeks to complete. “I think it will be a real benefit to the watershed,” he said. 

The comment period on the environmental assessment ends June 18. Written comments can be submitted to Rich Kehr, District Ranger, Chilly James Restoration Project, Swan Lake Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station Road, Bigfork, MT 59911.