changes, fish habitat restoration, irrigation upgrades (consolidate ditches, water 



conservation, eliminate fish entrainment, fish ladder installation on a diversion), and 



improved stream flows through water leasing. Restoration occurred throughout the 

 drainage but focused mostly in the lower mile of stream. 



Catch/1 00 feal 



Fish Populations 



Chamberlain Creek is a WSCT 

 dominated stream over its entire length, with 

 low densities of rainbow and brown trout in 

 lower reaches. Chamberlain Creek supports 

 a migration of fluvial WSCT from the 

 Blackfoot River. Fluvial spawning occurs 

 throughout the mainstem and extends into 

 Pearson Creek and the East Fork of 

 Chamberlain Creek. Beginning in 1997, we 

 found low numbers of bull trout using the 

 stream in areas affected by restoration. In 

 2002 and 2003, we continued to monitor fish 



populations at mile 0.1 and 0.5. These surveys show recent declines in WSCT densities in 

 the lower-most portion of Chamberlain (Figure 22). A time-series whirling disease 

 (Results Part IV) assessment indicates high infection levels during the WSCT emergence 

 period. Prolonged drought and whirling disease escalation are likely contributors to 

 recent WSCT declines. 



MM* 0.1 

 Mil* OS 



1989 1996 1998 2000 2002 2003 



Figure 22. CPUE for WSCT (fish>4.0") in two 

 sections of lower Chamberlain Creek, 1989-2003. 



Dunham Creek 



Restoration objectives: Eliminate the loss of native fish to irrigation canals; restore 

 habitat conditions and migration corridors; improve recruitment of bull trout and WSCT 

 to the Blackfoot River. 



Project Summary 



Dunham Creek, the largest tributary to Monture Creek, is an impaired spawning 

 stream for fluvial WSCT and bull trout. In the early 1970's, ~ 1.3 miles of the Dunham 

 riparian area was clear-cut and burned and the stream channelized. This channelized 

 stream has since become both vertically and laterally unstable, resulting in significant 

 increases in bank and bed erosion, as well as a channel braiding in downstream reaches. 



Two fisheries restoration projects were recently completed on Dunham Creek: 1) 

 the screening of the Dunham ditch 1 996 and diversion upgrades in 2002, and 2) the 

 reconstruction of 1.3 miles of channelized stream in 2000. 



Before the reconstruction project, mean baiakfull width in the degraded project 

 reach was 62.2', compared with mean stable reference bankfull width of 37.1'. The 

 width/depth ratio of the reference reach was 22.4 compared with 59.1 in the project reach. 

 Sediment deliveries in the project area were ~25-times natural levels and increased 

 significantly following high flow events of the late 1990s (USES 2001). This influx of 

 unnaturally high levels of sediment entered the charmel immediately upstream of the 

 Dunham Creek bull trout spawning area. 



37 



