active incision in some areas due to grazing practices, and in others due to poor 

 floodplain drainage through undersized culverts. Dave Rosgen recommended: 1) 

 correcting the grazing problems; 2) widening floodplains where entrenched and actively 

 sloughing; and 3) restoring riffle elevations up so the stream can access its floodplain at 

 normal bankflill (i.e. 1 .5 years) flows. 



Gold Creek 



Restoration Objectives: restore pool habitat and morphological complexity; restore 

 thermal refugia for Blackfoot River native fish. 



Project Summary 



Gold Creek is the largest tributary to the lower Blackfoot River, entering at river 

 mile 13.5. Discharge at the mouth of Gold Creek was 19-cfs in August 2000 (Pierce et al 

 2001). Over 90% of the Gold Creek watershed is industrial forest. Past harvest of 

 riparian conifers combined with the actual removal of large woody debris from the 

 chaimel, has reduced habitat complexity in the lower three miles of Gold Creek. Before 

 1996, pools accounted for less than 1% of the wetted surface area in this section of stream 

 (Pierce 1990). Low densities of age 1+ fish resulted from this habitat simplification. In 

 1996, we installed 66 habitat structures made of native material (rock and wood) that 

 resulted in 61 new pools in the three-mile section (Schmetterling and Pierce 1999). 



Gold creek has consistently tested positive for whirling disease in recent years, but 

 at very low infection levels. Whirling disease was not detected in Gold Creek in 2003. 



Fish Populations 



Gold Creek is a spawning tributary to 

 the lower Blackfoot River for bull trout, 

 WSCT, rainbow trout, and brown trout. 

 Resident brook trout also inhabit the 

 drainage. The Gold Creek mainstem and 

 confluence area provides thermal refugia for 

 Blackfoot River bull trout during periods of 

 river warming. 



In 2002 and 2003, we continued to 

 monitor fish populafions in the project area, 

 counted bull trout redds, and monitored 

 water temperatures. Fish population surveys, 

 undertaken on an annual basis since 1996, indicate positive increases for rainbow and 

 brown trout in the section (Figure 25), but no clear trend for native fish. Bull trout redd 

 counts show a small run of bull trout reproducing in Gold Creek, with four redds counted 

 in 2003, down from six a year earlier. 



Gold Creek exerts a cooling influence on the lower Blackfoot River, and appears 

 to offer the highest quality thermal refugia (based on stream size and channel complexity) 

 for bull trout in the lower Blackfoot River downstream of Monture Creek. In 2002 and 

 2003, stream temperature monitoring near the mouth recorded maximum temperatures of 



Figure 25. CPUE for salmonids (> 4.0") in 

 lower Gold Creek (mile 1.9). 1996-2003. 



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