Murphy Spring Creek, a small WSCT dominated tributary, originates on the north 

 side of Ovando 

 Mountain and flow 

 six miles south to its 

 confluence with the 

 lower North Fork at 

 mile 9.9. Murphy 

 Spring Creek has a 

 history of irrigation 

 impacts and fish 

 passage problems. 

 Irrigation problems 

 involve chronic 



dewatering and 



entrainment of WSCT 

 to the Murphy ditch at 

 mile 1.8. Fish 



passage problems 

 involved an 



undersized culvert at mile 0.5 and the defunct condition of the Murphy diversion. The 

 culvert reduced the upstream movement of juvenile bull trout from the North Fork, while 

 the diversion reduced downstream movement of WSCT from the headwaters to the North 

 Fork through dewatering and entrainment. 



The Murphy Spring Creek restoration project began in 1998 with the installation 

 of a new diversion fitted with a Denil fish ladder. In 2000, we replaced the culvert with a 

 larger baffled culvert designed to allow the upstream movement of YOY bull trout. In 

 2004-05, the Blackfoot Cooperators continued to expand on restoration actions by 

 developing an instream flow agreement that granted habitat maintenance flows as well as 

 a 2.2 cfs minimal instream flow in Murphy Spring Creek. The project at the Murphy 

 diversion also seeks to eliminate entrainment of WSCT with the installation of a fish 

 screen planned for 2006. 



Fish population and other 

 monitoring 



Figure 30 shows the 

 instream flow monitoring results 

 above and below the Murphy 

 diversion for 2005. The 



measurements at the culvert 

 crossing (~2 cfs) compare to a 

 measurement of <0.5 cfs in 

 September 2004. Fish population 

 surveys indicate a modest increase 

 in densities in lower Murphy Creek 

 in 2005 compared to 2001 (Figure 31) 



■ WSCT 



■ Bull trout 

 QBrook trout 



2001 



2005 



Figure 31. CPUE for salmonids in Murphy Spring Creek at 

 mile 0.6, 2001 and 2005. 



42 



