67 ° F. approximately 4 ° F cooler than the Blackfoot River near Belmont Creek at mile 

 21.9. (Appendix I). 



Kleinschmidt Creek 



Restoration objectives: reduce whirling disease infection levels; restore stream channel 

 morphology for all life stages of trout; increase recruitment of trout to the Blackfoot 

 River; and restore thermal refiigia and rearing areas for North Fork Blackfoot River bull 

 trout 



Project Summary 



Kleinschmidt Creek, located on the southern margin of Kleinschmidt Flat, is a 

 spring creek tributary to the North Fork of the Blackfoot River, entering at mile 6.1 with a 

 base flow of 11.4 cfs in September 2001. Kleinschmidt Creek currently supports low 

 numbers of brown trout and brook trout, along with very low densities of bull trout, 

 rainbow trout and WSCT. Kleinschmidt has a long history of intensive riparian grazing, 

 with very little regard for riparian health and channel stability. In addition to livestock 

 over-use, placement of rock dams, undersized culverts and highway channelization 

 further degraded, and over- widened Kleinschmidt Creek (Pierce 1991). In 2000-01, the 

 Blackfoot Cooperators reconstructed 6,250' of degraded and over-widened stream to C 

 and E-type channels. A summary of pre-and post-project channel parameters is described 

 by Pierce et al. 2002. 



Density (95% CI) 

 12| 



10 



W/ wood 



W/O wood 



Project 



Project 



^.. 



1998 2000 



2003 1998 2000 



Mile 0.5 



Year 



Mile 0.8 



Fish Populations 



In 2002 and 2003, we 

 monitored fish populations, water 

 temperatures and whirling disease 

 infection levels. Fish population 

 surveys were completed at two 

 locations of lower Kleinschmidt 

 Creek (mile 0.5 and 0.8) at 

 sections established in 1998. To 

 assess the influence of LWD in 

 newly constructed E4-type 

 channels, we placed no LWD in 

 the mile 0.5 survey section during 

 reconstruction, whereas the rest of 

 the stream included LWD 

 placement, including the mile 0.8 survey section. 



The 2002 estimate for age 1+ brown trout showed substantial increases at the 0.5- 

 mile section one year post-project, compared with pre-project densities (Figure 26). Our 

 surveys also showed significantly higher densities of age 1+ brown trout where LWD was 

 incorporated in the channel (mile 0.8) compared with where it was not (Appendix B). 



In 2003, population densities continued to increase in the section with wood but 

 declined in the section without wood. We attribute this decline in the woodless section to 

 excessive livestock access into the project area during the very sensitive early recovery 



2003 



Figure 26. Estimated densities of age 1+ brown trout in two 

 locations of Kleinschmidt creeic, 1998-2003. 



41 



