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Yankee Fork Tributary Assessment Upper Salmon Subbasin

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Yankee Fork Tributary Assessment Upper Salmon Subbasin Yankee Fork Tributary Assessment Upper Salmon Subbasin Custer County, Idaho U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Pacific Northwest Region Pacific Northwest Regional Office, Boise, Idaho January 2012 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR The Department of the Interior protects and manages the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific and other information about those resources; and honors its trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities. MISSION OF THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION The mission of the Bureau of Reclamation is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. Cover Photo: View to the southwest looking downstream along the Yankee Fork near river mile 13.8 – Bureau of Reclamation. Date: September 2, 2010 Photo by: David Walsh Yankee Fork Tributary Assessment Upper Salmon Subbasin Custer County, Idaho U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Pacific Northwest Region Pacific Northwest Regional Office, Boise, Idaho January 2012 This page intentionally left blank Acronyms and Abbreviations BiOp Biological Opinion BY brood year cfs cubic feet per second DPS Distinct Population Segments ESA Endangered Species Act FCRPS Federal Columbia River Power System ft/s feet per second GIS geographic information system HUC hydrologic unit code IDEQ Idaho Department of Environmental Quality IDFG Idaho Department of Fish and Game LIDAR light detection and ranging mi2 square miles mi/mi2 miles per square miles MIS management indicator species NOAA Fisheries Service NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service Reclamation Bureau of Reclamation RM river mile RPA Reasonable and Prudent Alternative SNOTEL Snowpack Telemetry TA tributary assessment TMDL total maximum daily load Tribes Shoshone Bannock Tribes USFS U.S. Forest Service USFWS U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service USGS U.S. Geological Survey West Fork West Fork of the Yankee Fork Yankee Fork Yankee Fork of the Salmon River Table of Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................. 1 1. Overview ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Purpose .................................................................................................................. 10 1.2 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Limitations and Data Gaps ................................................................................... 12 2. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 13 2.1 Geographic Location ............................................................................................. 13 2.2 Demographics ....................................................................................................... 14 2.3 Fish Species of Interest ......................................................................................... 16 2.4 Chinook Salmon and Summer Steelhead Limiting Factors .................................. 18 3. Regional Characteristics............................................................................................. 19 3.1 Setting ................................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Geology ................................................................................................................. 19 3.3 Climate .................................................................................................................. 21 4. Cultural Resources and History ................................................................................. 22 4.1 Cultural Resources ................................................................................................ 22 4.1.1 Prehistoric Overview ...................................................................................... 22 4.1.2 Historic Overview .......................................................................................... 23 4.1.3 Ethnographic Overview .................................................................................. 23 4.2 Historical Chronology ........................................................................................... 24 4.2.1 Gold Discovered in the Yankee Fork ............................................................. 24 4.2.2 Charles Dickens Mine and Bonanza City ....................................................... 24 4.2.3 General Custer Mine/Mill and Custer City .................................................... 24 4.2.4 Yankee Fork Gold Dredge.............................................................................. 26 4.2.5 Golden Sunbeam Group and Sunbeam Hydroelectric Dam ........................... 27 5. Watershed Characteristics .......................................................................................... 28 5.1 Geology ................................................................................................................. 28 5.2 Hydrology ............................................................................................................. 31 5.3 Soils ...................................................................................................................... 35 5.4 Sediment Sources and Inputs ................................................................................ 35 5.5 Vegetation ............................................................................................................. 36 5.5.1 Historic Mining Disturbances ........................................................................ 36 5.5.2 Present Species Assemblage .......................................................................... 37 5.5.3 Wildland Fires ................................................................................................ 39 5.5.4 Insect Infestations and Disease ....................................................................... 39 6. Watershed Fish Usage and Supplementation ............................................................. 40 6.1 Historic Fish Use .................................................................................................. 40 6.1.1 Chinook Salmon ............................................................................................. 40 6.1.2 Steelhead ........................................................................................................ 41 6.1.3 Bull Trout ....................................................................................................... 41 6.1.4 Westslope Cutthroat ....................................................................................... 41 6.1.5 Pacific Lamprey ............................................................................................. 42 6.2 Present Fish Use .................................................................................................... 42 6.2.1 Chinook Salmon ............................................................................................. 42 January 2012 i Yankee Fork Tributary Assessment 6.2.2 Steelhead ......................................................................................................... 43 6.2.3 Bull Trout ........................................................................................................ 44 6.2.4 Westslope Cutthroat Trout .............................................................................. 45 6.2.5 Pacific Lamprey .............................................................................................. 45 6.3 Supplementation and Habitat Enhancement Programs.......................................... 45 6.4 Estimates of Chinook and Steelhead Density ........................................................ 46 6.4.1 Snorkel Surveys............................................................................................... 48 6.4.2 Redd Surveys................................................................................................... 49 6.4.3 Screw Trap Operations .................................................................................... 50 7. Watershed Condition .................................................................................................. 53 7.1 Road Density and Location ................................................................................... 53 7.1.1 Road Density Conclusions .............................................................................. 55 7.2 Anthropogenic Disturbance History ...................................................................... 55 7.2.1 Mining Activity ............................................................................................... 55 7.2.2 Livestock Grazing ........................................................................................... 57 7.2.3 Timber Harvests .............................................................................................. 57 7.2.4 Anthropogenic Disturbance History Conclusions ........................................... 58 7.3 Riparian Reserves .................................................................................................. 59 7.3.1 Riparian Reserves Conclusions
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