Advancing Water Resources Research and Management

MONITORING RESULTS OF WATERSHED RESTORATION ACTIVITIES

Quartz Creek - Middle Kootenai Bull Trout Recovery Area

Steve Wegner

(Hydrologist USFS-Libby, MT)

^{ABSTRACT: A watershed restoration plan to facilitate the recovery of bull trout in the Quartz Creek watershed was proposed in 1990. Since that time a wildfire and subsequent timber salvage activities in conjunction with the recovery activities have occurred. All timber salvage activities were modified to complement the goals of the restoration plan. The majority of the restoration work involved the removal of unstable roads and culverts from the watershed. Sediment generated from these activities has the greatest chance of impacting the downstream uses. Instream suspended sediment monitoring was used to evaluate the impacts of restoration activities. The monitoring revealed that different equipment operators can affect the amount of sediment generated. Overall, the monitoring showed that the instream effects are of very short duration and do not affect beneficial uses.}

INTRODUCTION

The Quartz Creek watershed is located in Northwest Montana and is a tributary to the Kootenai River. The drainage is 34 square miles in size, has a road density of 3.3 miles of road per square mile of watershed, and has an average annual precipitation of 41 inches. The drainage has a snow-melt doninated runoff regime. The geology of the drainage is underlain by the Wallace Formation in the Belt Series. Surficial geology is dominated by glacial till deposits. Timber management has resulted in approximately 3,700 acres in a clearcut condition in the past 20 years.

In 1994 the Montana Bull Trout Restoration Team designated the Quartz Creek drainage as the most important spawning and rearing area for bull trout in the middle Kootenai drainage. Forestry Practices were determined to have a very high risk of damaging the watershed (Montana Bull Trout Scientific Group, 1996).

PROJECT HISTORY

The importance of bull trout in the Quartz Creek drainage was documented in the Quartz Creek Environmental Analysis (USFS, 1990). A restoration proposal was initiated to reduce impacts of sediment inputs from roads (King, 1989), and reduce the redirection and concentration of flow from road surfaces and cutslopes (Wemple, 1994). The proposal has begun to be implemented and updated to reflect recent changes in bull trout status (proposed for listing 6/97, listed as threatened in 6/98).

METHODS

Restoration methods used to accomplish the goals included various levels of road obliteration (partial and full), culvert removals on all perennial stream crossings including the reconstruction of all stream channels into stable geomorphic systems. All disturbed soil was seeded and fertilized to revegetate the areas. Monitoring included total suspended sediment (TSS) above and below the activity areas following techniques from Edwards and Glysson (1988). Macroinvetebrate trend analysis (Bahls, et all, 1992). Stream core samples were collected and analyized for percent fine sediments to review effects to spawning gravels (Weaver and Fraley, 1991). Bull trout spawning redds were monitored on a yearly basis to review population trends. Water temperature was monitored with a continous recorder at the spawning area in the West Fork of Quartz Creek and also in the main stem of Quartz Creek near the confluence with the Kootenai River. The Kootenai Forest Plan has requirements for the maintenance of beneficial stream temperatures (USDA, 1995).

PROJECT SITES

Project 1: 1995

West Fork Quartz -Culvert Removal and Stream Channel Reconstruction

ACTIVITES:This project involved the monitoring of sediment levels during the removal of the 4691D road. The restoration work involved removing a 48 inch culvert from a perennial tributary. The road fill had a depth of 32 feet which had to be removed to take out the culvert. The work took 4 days including the rebuilding of a step-pool type channel. The water in the tributary was collected and pumped around the work site except for a minor amount of seepage. An automated suspended sediment sampler was located below the point where the pumped water was returned to the channel.

RESULTS: The data shows that even though the majority of the water was pumped around the work site there was still some amount of sediment that was transported by the seepage. The amount of sediment in the tributary channel was high during the work but lasted only 2 days (Table 1). Monitoring in the bull trout spawning area of the West Fork showed no measurable change in TSS. Water temperatures in the West Fork stayed below 49 degrees F during project implementation. The reconstruction of the stream channel worked out very well as it was tested by a 25 year flow event the following spring and showed no signs of erosion or sediment input to the tributary. Figure 1 shows the work in progress and the reconstructed channel.

Figure 1. Culvert Removal (in progress)	Removal Completed (channel rebuilt)

Project 2: 1996

Quartz Creek - Stream Channel Reconstruction

ACTIVITIES: This project involved the total reconstruction of 800 feet of Quartz Creek. The channel had been completely filled with bedload from an upstream slump on private land. The creek had left its channel and through overland flow was bypassing the 800 foot section of channel that was filled with bedload. The overland flow area was determined to be unsuitable for fish migration and stability by the USFS and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. A geomorphic channel design (Rosgen, 1996) with the objective of restoring the channel to its pre-disturbance dimensions was completed and reviewed, the proper permits obtained and construction took place before the expected high flow event.

The work was performed with an excavator under the supervision of the district hydrologist. All efforts were taken to insure that a minimal amount of sediment would be accessible by the creek. The majority of the work was completed with the new channel in a "dry" condition. The work was completed between March 12-15, 1996. Figure 2 displays the project area before and after the work. At 1030 AM on March 15 the stream was allowed to enter the "new" channel.

RESULTS: Table 2 displays the changes in TSS, flow, Total Dissolved Sediments (TDS), and Turbidity during the completion of the project. During the period of work, a small landslide on private lands upstream continued to input fine sediment to the channel. The Montana Department of Health and Environmental Sciences (1988) has stated that TSS levels greater than 25 Mg/L are detrimental to fish. Newcombe and MacDonald (1991) also discuss TSS levels in conjunction with the amount of time the fish are exposed to the increase. The data in Table 2 shows that TSS increases usually last for less than 24 hours. TDS did not show any useable trend data for this analysis. Turbidity values roughly followed the TSS trend data. Water temperatures below the project remained at 38 degrees F or lower during project completion.

Figure 2. Lower Channel (full of bedload deposits)	Lower Channel (after reconstruction)

Project 3: 1998

West Fork Quartz Creek - Road Obliteration and Culvert Removals

ACTIVITIES: The project involved the direct removal of 11.6 miles of road, fireline fuel breaks, and 9 live stream culvert crossings. Since 1994, the restoration work has resulted in a 68% reduction in the road network in the West Fork. Figure 3 shows miles of road and bull trout redd numbers from 1980 through 1998 in the West Fork of Quartz Creek. Percent fine sediments in the West Fork have been collected since 1993. The amount of percent fines is the average of 10 stream core samples located in a typical spawning area of the channel. Samples are collected in the same area and at the same time of year to allow consistency in data analysis. Studies on bull trout fry emergence success shows that as the amount of fine sediments decreases there is an increase in bull trout spawning success (Weaver and Fraley 1991).

RESULTS: The bull trout redd data from the West Fork in Figure 3 displays the same relationship. Over the last six years, as the amount of fine sediments declined, the amount of bull trout redds increased. Since 1993 the percent fine sediments in the stream core samples has reduced 48 percent while the amount of bull trout redds has increased 16 percent. One exception seen in all of the monitoring data is the response of resources to the flood event of February 1996. This 25 year flow event caused a temporary trend reversal for a one year in the monitored data sets for this project.

Figure 3. - West Fork Data Comparision

Road obliteration techniques vary widely from site to site to meet hydrologic stability needs. Road work in the West Fork ranged from installing waterbars, partially recontouring, and fully recontouring selected roads. All disturbed areas were seeded and fertilized to help stabilize the soil and control noxious weed intrusion. One component of the restoration work was that all live stream culverts were removed and geomorphically stable stream channels were constructed for long-term stability. Because all streams are different, not all culvert removals require the same amount of work. Depending on the slope of the stream and the amount of overburden on the culvert, different channel work is required. Culvert removals are the most costly (Table 3) and time consuming portion of road restoration activities. If not removed they are also the most probable sites of future road failures that could result in direct sedimentation delivery to stream channels.

Table 3 - Restoration Costs

Road obliteration (consisting of replacing enough fill material to reestablish a downslope overland flow pattern) in the West Fork cost $2,597 per mile. This does not include any of the culvert removal costs. If you have an average of 1 stream crossing per mile and a cost of $ 1,213 for each culvert removal the total cost for equipment work is $3,810 per mile. When the project inspector time and seed and fertilizer costs are added, the average cost per mile is approximately $4,300. When looking at the long-term (20 to 30 years) maintenance costs and access needs for the selected roads that have been removed from the transportation network, the beneficial effects of cost savings and resource protection are substantial.

Effects to beneficial uses from culvert removals and channel reconstruction were the lowest when stream water could be routed around the site. Continous water temperature recorders located in the West Fork and the mainstem of Quartz Creek have been in place since 1995. There has been no measurable effect on stream temperatures due to the restoration work. The water temperature never exceeded 54 degrees F, even though there were 20 days during the summer of 1998 with air temperatures over 100 degrees F. Research has shown that 59 degrees F and below is considered the optimum water temperature for salmonid production (Behnke and Zarn, 1976).

Through the course of 9 live stream culvert removals in 1998, it was noticed through monitoring that different equipment operators have a varying effect on sediment delivery to receiving waters. Figure 4 displays TSS values collected at three different locations in the project watershed. The West Fork Quartz TSS site is approximately 1000 feet below the project area in a known bull trout spawning area. The Quartz TSS site is located about a half mile above the confluence with the Kootenai River. The control area was the "Above Restoration TSS" site and was located on the West Fork, upstream of any tributary that had restoration work completed in it. Generally for the first six culvert removals all TSS values remained at or below the control TSS values. On August 18th a new operator removed culvert #2 and a subsequent TSS peak was captured at the West Fork sample location. Another peak was noticed after the removal of culvert #4 on August 24th with the same operator. It is important to remember that a TSS level greater than 25 Mg/L is considered harmful for salmonid fisheries. The highest TSS peak measured during the restoration project was 16 Mg/L. These results indicate that restoration activities can take place without harming the water quality or fishery resources.

Analysis of the instream aquatic macroinvertebrate communities from 1995 to 1998 also shows a beneficial trend. The data shows an increase of 241 percent in the number of aquatic organisms per square meter of channel bottom, a 13 percent increase in the number of species present, and an overall increase of 12 percent in the Biotic Condition Index of the system.

Figure 4. West Fork Quartz TSS Data

DISCUSSION

Monitoring data from these projects has helped to focus our efforts on what data displays effects in a useable fashion. The trout Redd and percent fine sediments in stream cores shows a nice correlation that is supported by other research (Weaver and Fraley, 1991). Monitoring of TSS below the project sites does detect impacts to water quality. As shown from this data it was possible to use the data to detect changes in equipment operators. The macroinvetebrate data needs to be collected for a longer time frame but does allow the evaluation of ecosystem health trends. The use of TDS and Turbidity data was inconclusive for the determination of effects to water quality.

Much discussion has occurred in the past year over the effectiveness of restoration work and whether the conduct of restoration activities harms the water and fisheries resources. The monitoring data presented in this report indicates that in general, the work does not harm the resources we are trying to protect and restore provided the activities are planned and conducted in a controled manner and they meet geomorphic needs of the systems. The data also seems to indicate that there are direct,and long-term beneficial effects to the resources. To determine if these indications are correct, continued monitoring in the Quartz Creek watershed will continue into the near future.

CONCLUSIONS

As the shifting tides of national politics shape the future of the nations forest lands, the current policy of the USDA - Forest Service is "...to restore and maintain healthy watersheds for use by current and future generations. We will give watershed protection and ecological restoration the highest priority in decision making processes, including budget and program planning, land management planning, project implementation, and watershed assessments for forest and interagency plans. This policy is built on the premise that we simply cannot meet the needs of people without first securing the health of our lands and water" (USDA,1998). Only time and continued monitoring will determine if our actions have helped restore the ecological functions needed for long-term stability.

REFERENCES

Bahls, L., and Bukantis, R., and Tralles, S. 1992. Benchmark Biology of Montana Reference Streams. Water Quality Bureau -DHES. Helena, MT. 62 p.

Behnke, R.J., and M. Zarn. 1976. Biology and Management of threatened and endangered western trout. USDA - Forest Servce, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Fort Collins, CO. General Technical Report RM. 28.

Edwards, T.K., and Glysson G. D., 1988. Field Methods for Measurement of Fluvial Sediment. US Geological Survey, Open File Report 86-531. Reston VA. 54 p.

King, J.G., 1989. Streamflow Responses to Road Building and Harvesting: a Comparision with the Equivalent Clearcut Area Procedure. Intermountain Research Station, Research Paper INT-401. 13 p.

Mangum, F. A., 1997. Aquatic Ecosystem Inventory, Macroinvertebrate Analysis, Yearly Progress Report - Kootenai National Forest.National Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. pp. 70- 73.

Montana Bull Trout Scientific Group, 1996. Middle Kootenai River Drainage Bull Trout Status Report. Montana Bull Trout Restoration Team. Helena, MT. 36 p.

Montana Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, 1988. 401B Report. Water Quality Bureau. Helena, MT.

Newcombe, C.P., and D.D. MacDonald. 1991. Effects of Suspended Sediments on aquatic ecosystems. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 11:72-82.

Rosgen, D., 1996. Applied River Morphology. Printed Media Companies, Minneapolis, MN. 345 p.

USDA, 1990. Quartz Environmental Analysis. Forest Service - Kootenai National Forest, Libby MT.

USDA, 1995. Inland Native Fish Stragety. Washington DC: Forest Service.

USDA, 1998. Forest Service Natural Resource Adgenda. Washington DC: USDA Forest Service, 72 p.

Weaver, T. and Fraley, J., 1991. Fisheries Habitat and Fish Populations, Flathead Basin Forest Practices Water Quality and Fisheries Cooperative Program - Final Report. Flathead Basin Commission,Kalispell, MT. pp. 53- 68.

Wemple, B.C., 1994. Hydrologic Integration of Forest Roads with Stream Networks in Two Basins, Western Cascades, Oregon. Oregon State University, MS Thesis. Corvalis, OR.

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