Sinlahekin Creek Restoration

The Upper Columbia Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group (UCRFEG) undertook the "Sinlahekin Creek Project", a fisheries habitat, restoration, and watershed ecosystem project on Sinlahekin Creek, near Loomis, WA. Sinlahekin Creek drains north into Palmer Lake, which then drains east and south into Similkameen and Okanogan Rivers, tributaries to the Columbia River. The creek has been identified by agencies as a high priority watershed for implementation actions to improve water quality for humans and recreational use of Palmer Lake, and has major direct impacts on fish production by influencing habitat for the last significant wild sockeye salmon stock in the entire Columbia Basin plus ESA listed Chinook and steelhead spawning grounds. These listed species are found below Enloe Dam; however, the quality of Sinlahekin Creek affects the lower water bodies. It also directly impacts human drinking waters and regionally important recreational areas. There is also a native run of Kokanee, which has a genetic tie to the Frazier River stock. Sinlahekin Creek is the primary spawning grounds for those Kokanee.

Problems on the creek are aggravated by livestock accessing the creek, trampling banks, removing the riparian area and essentially impacting the quality of water and habitat. The stream can no longer access its floodplain and it is essentially "digging its own grave"-eroding even during low flow times and depositing sediment in-stream. These conditions have severely degraded fish habitat throughout the proposed project area. Aspects of fish habitat that will be improved as a result of this project include channel shape, stability and width-to-depth ratios, pool riffle ratios, pool depths, spawning gravel distribution, sediment routing and hydrology. The project will also significantly improve riparian conditions over 8200 feet of stream in an area where riparian habitat has been identified by Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife as a limiting factor to key non-aquatic endangered species in the region.

Historically, landowners in this project area have been extremely skeptical of government-led watershed management and planning efforts in the proposed project area, although they recognize and are proud of their key role as stewards of the watershed. Due to its very visible location, the Sinlahekin project is an opportunity for the landowners, public and the conservation sector to learn about, recognize and encourage restoration benefits on private lands. With the growing level of awareness and understanding within the community we feel this proposed partnership will undoubtedly foster further community action in protecting ecosystem integrity benefiting species-at-risk throughout our region. UCRFEG functions primarily to engage "real life" people in restoring key species to the Columbia River. UCRFEG's role is to foster and facilitate substantial coordination between agriculture/livestock-sector landowners plus governmental agencies to move forward on-ground activities, plus secure funding and provide general coordination support.

Although the UCRFEG portion of the project will primarily restore in-stream habitat, the "ecosystem approach" will be taken. Riparian and in-stream concerns will be addressed via site-specific techniques such as protection of existing high quality habitat, livestock exclusion, installation of hardened livestock crossings, riparian plantings, modification of existing stream banks and installation of in-stream structures. This area along Sinlahekin Creek also has a Bald Eagle nest. It has been active in recent years, and anticipated to be in the future. There are currently a few Cottonwood trees on the proposed property. Since the Cottonwood Gallery is a very important factor to not only fish, but also wildlife habitat, we plan to do an extensive planting of the Cottonwoods in the project area.

The Education and Outreach component of the Sinlahekin Creek Restoration Project will concentrate on four areas of priority to engage community participation in the health and sustainability of this watershed: Schools, Watershed Committees, Volunteers, and specific Landowners. UCRFEG will spearhead the following outreach initiatives:

1. Training landowners and volunteers, and improvement protocols for monitoring project success;
2. Habitat and species monitoring including data collection and project monitoring;
3. Signage development and eco-tour coordination; and
4. Public media coverage, partnerships, and other watershed programming.

This project was completed in 2009.

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