WETLAND CONSERVATION STRATEGY FOR THE WEST-CENTRAL MOUNTAIN VALLEYS OF IDAHO Prepared by Mabel Jankovsky-Jones and Edward Bottum Idaho Conservation Data Center June 2003 Idaho Department of Fish and Game Natural Resource Policy Bureau 600 South Walnut, P.O. Box 25 Boise, ID 83707 Report prepared with funding from the United States Environmental Protection Agency through Section 104(b) (3) of the Clean Water Act Grant No. CD 980425-01-0 TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY.....................................................................................................................................1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................2 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................3 SURVEY AREA..............................................................................................................................4 METHODS ......................................................................................................................................5 FIELD METHODS....................................................................................................................5 Reference Areas and Sample Sites ......................................................................................5 Field Data Collection ...........................................................................................................5 OFFICE METHODS .................................................................................................................6 National Wetlands Inventory ...............................................................................................6 Wetland Plant Associations .................................................................................................7 Site and Community Databases ...........................................................................................8 Site Ranking.........................................................................................................................9 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................................11 WETLAND ACREAGE AND TYPES...................................................................................11 WETLAND OWNERSHIP AND PROTECTION STATUS..................................................11 WETLAND CONDITION.......................................................................................................11 Wetland Losses ..................................................................................................................16 Functional Shifts ................................................................................................................16 WETLAND DIVERSITY........................................................................................................19 Wetland Plant Associations ...............................................................................................19 RARE FLORA.........................................................................................................................23 Rare Animals .....................................................................................................................23 CONSERVATION PRIORITIES FOR WETLANDS ............................................................25 Class I Sites........................................................................................................................25 Class II Sites ......................................................................................................................28 Reference Sites...................................................................................................................28 Habitat Sites.......................................................................................................................29 Other Sites and Priorities for Conservation .......................................................................29 How This Information Can be Used ..................................................................................30 How To Request Additional Information ..........................................................................30 i TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) LITERATURE CITED ..................................................................................................................32 APPENDIX A................................................................................................................................35 APPENDIX B. ...............................................................................................................................42 APPENDIX C ................................................................................................................................44 APPENDIX D................................................................................................................................81 APPENDIX E ................................................................................................................................85 APPENDIX F...............................................................................................................................104 APPENDIX G..............................................................................................................................162 APPENDIX H..............................................................................................................................182 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Definition of wetland and deepwater habitat systems (Cowardin et al. 1979)..............7 Table 2. Definitions and indicators of criteria for allocating wetland sites into management categories..................................................................................................9 Table 3. Acres of wetland and deepwater habitat and management status................................16 Table 4. Wetland and riparian plant associations in the west-central mountain valleys arranged by Cowardin system, class, and subclass......................................................20 Table 5. Plant species of special concern in the survey area, conservation rank, and Idaho Native Plant Society (INPS) category. ..............................................................23 Table 6. Wetland associated animal species of special concern in the survey area...................24 Table 7. Wetland sites in the west-central mountain valleys. Management categories are defined in the text.........................................................................................................26 Table 8. Accessing wetlands-related data housed at Idaho Department of Fish and Gamea...........................................................................................................................31 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Location of wetland and deepwater habitat for digitized maps in the survey area by system. ....................................................................................................................12 Figure 2. Acreage of wetland and deepwater habitat in Hydrologic Unit 17050123 (North Fork Payette)................................................................................................................13 Figure 3. Acreage of wetland and deepwater habitat in Hydrologic Unit 17060210 (Little Salmon)........................................................................................................................14 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Figure 4. Landownership of wetlands in the project area. ..........................................................15 Figure 5. Location of wetland sites in west-central Idaho mountain valleys. Site numbers correspond to those used in Table 7.............................................................................27 iii SUMMARY The Idaho Conservation Data Center has received wetland protection grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency under the authority of Section 104 (b)(3) of the Clean Water Act to enhance existing wetland information systems. The goal is to identify the following: 1) Where are the wetlands? 2) What is the condition and management status of wetlands? 3) What kind of wetlands are they? This information can then be applied to state biodiversity, conservation, and water quality enhancement projects on a watershed basis. This builds on previous inventories in the state to create a consistent source of wetland information. Previous project areas included the Henrys Fork Basin, Big Wood River Basin, southeastern Idaho watersheds, the Idaho Panhandle, east- central basins, and Spokane River Basin, the middle and western Snake River and lower reaches of its major tributaries, and the upper Snake River including the Portneuf drainage. This document summarizes our findings in the west-central mountain valleys of Idaho. The survey area includes the North Fork Payette River upstream of Smith’s Ferry to include Long Valley, Round Valley, and adjacent areas in the Payette River Basin. Also included are the upper Secesh River and Meadows Valley in the Salmon River Basin. We used the United States Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) to gain a broad perspective on the extent and types of wetlands in the survey area. Landownership and management layers were overlaid on the NWI to determine