Cole Ranch Main Salmon Bank Stabilization

Project Narrative

A total of 0.09 miles of stream-bank and one acre of riparian area were treated. Treatments included sloping the streambank, planting riparian plants and installing a four wire fence within the 3.1 miles of streambank protected by the donated conservation easement. Riparian treatments included planting and fencing. One acre of riparian area along 0.09 miles of the streambank was planted with Black cottonwood (Populus balsamifera ssp trichocarpa), woods rose (Rosa woodsii Lindl.), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), serviceberry (Amelanchier anlnifolia), Geyer willow (Salix geyeriana), Booth willow (Salix boothii), coyote willow (Salix exigua), cornus sericea and Drummond willow (Salix drummondiana). An existing fence was removed and a new wire fence was installed along 0.09 miles of streambank to protect the new plantings and exclude livestock. Throughout the project pre-treatment, post-treatment, compliance monitoring both engineering design and project design and non-salmonid biological monitoring were conducted onsite, upstream and downstream. Baseline monitoring was completed. Ongoing monitoring included spring and summer monitoring to ensure that the plantings remained healthy and to assess any irrigation needs. The Cole Ranch conservation easement was completed as part of this project on December 30, 2010. The landowner donated the value of the conservation easement. The conservation easement protects 301 acres along 3.1 miles of the west side of the Salmon River and is held by and monitored annually in perpetuity by Lemhi Regional Land Trust and there is no expiration date. The conservation easement is predominantly agricultural pasture with an extensive system of irrigation channels, retention ponds and a history of sprinkler irrigation. Wetlands, created from natural springs and creeks, as well as irrigation, are abundant particularly along the irrigation ditches, creeks and in depressional areas. Riparian areas occur along the river as a transitional zone between permanently saturated wetlands and upland. In this lotic riparian system, running water heavily influences subsurface water and the adjacent floodplain. Much of the property is subject to inundation or saturation for most of the growing season.