http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/success319/id_bear.cfm

Water: Nonpoint Source Success Stories

Contact:

Hawk Stone

(hawk.stone@ deq.idaho.gov)

DEQ Boise Regional Office

208-373-0550

PDF Version of story

(2pp, 193K, About PDF)

Figure 1.Bear Valley Creek, in westcentral Idaho.(See detailed map below.)

Figure 2.Bear Valley Creek, before

(top)and after (bottom) livestock

grazing was removed.This bar is

gradually recovering as perennial

vegetation becomes established.

You are here:Water Pollution Prevention & Control Polluted Runoff Nonpoint Source Success Stories Idaho:Bear Valley Creek

Idaho: Bear Valley Creek

Stakeholders Collaborate to Reduce Sediment and Restore Fish Habitat in Creek

Waterbodies Improved

Sediment from historical dredge-mining, livestock grazing and roads degraded water quality in Idaho’s Bear Valley

Creek. As a result, the stream was added to Idaho’s 1994Clean Water Act (CWA)section 303(d)list for sediment

impairment. Tribal, state and federal partners cooperated on sediment-reduction projects. Monitoring now shows that

sediment no longer impairs cold-water aquatic life in two Bear Valley Creek assessment units (AUs). As a result, the

Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ)removed the third-order AU(ID17060205SL012_03)from the

state’s list of impaired waters during the 2008reporting cycle and is proposing to remove the fourth-order AU

(ID17060205SL012_04)during the 2014reporting cycle.

Problem

Bear Valley Creek joins Marsh Creek to form the Middle Fork Salmon River in west-central Idaho (Figure 1).Streams in the

mountainous, 191-square mile Bear Valley Creek watershed provide important habitat for trout and salmon.This predominately

forested watershed falls entirely within national forest land and includes 154miles of access roads.Before 2001, livestock grazing

occurred on the meadows growing in the unconsolidated sandy soil of the valley bottom.

Between 1956and 1959, dredge mining of private land occurred in the upper watershed, obliterating 17,000linear feet of Bear Valley

Creek and 10,000linear feet of tributary channels.Subsequently, a flood event in 1984caused further damage with the massive

erosion of tailing materials.

In 1994the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)added Bear Valley Creek to the CWA section 303(d)list of impaired waters

on the basis of IDEQ’s 1992section 305(b)water quality assessment report.

Project Highlights

Between 1985and 1989, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe restored the previously mined area.The tribe graded and vegetated eroding

stream banks to reestablish a functioning floodplain along 1.5miles of stream, preventing an additional 250,000to 500,000cubic

yards of mining overburden from entering the stream.In 1989the mineral resource owners sold the land to the federal government.

In the 1990s the U.S.Forest Service (USFS)partnered with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)to implement modified

grazing strategies on the watershed’s livestock grazing allotments to protect salmon species and their habitats.Partners’efforts

included planting willows in riparian areas, installing revetments and flow deflectors to stabilize eroding streambanks, and installing

fences to exclude livestock from streams.In 2001the USFS closed the Bear Valley Creek livestock grazing allotment, permanently

removing a major source of erosion.

In 2003the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG)and numerous partners implemented a riparian restoration project along

Upper Bear Valley Creek.Volunteers planted native willows, sedges and grasses at 14sites.

From 2009to 2011, USFS used the Geomorphic Road Analysis and Inventory Package (GRAIP)to identify key locations where road

sediment entered Bear Valley streams.Using this information, the USFS completed numerous road remediation projects to address

prioritized source areas.Because numerous sediment control efforts existed or were planned, the USFS and IDEQ developed an

Integrated Report Category 4b (“other pollution controls in place”)justification in 2011to show that a sediment total maximum daily

load for the watershed was unnecessary.

In 2010the USFS led an effort to restore the stream channel and riparian areas of Casner Creek, an Upper Bear Valley Creek

tributary that flows through the historically dredge-mined area.

Results

Monitoring results using IDEQ streambank stability (SS)methods in the third-order AU (Bear Valley Creek between Sheep Trail and

Cache Creeks)show SS averaged 97percent stable in 2004and 2007.In 2008and 2012, SS assessments in the fourth-order AU

(Bear Valley Creek from Cache Creek to Elk Creek)averaged 94.5and 98.1percent stable, respectively.Therefore, both the thirdand fourth-order AUs meet the Pacific Anadromous Fish Strategy (PACFISH)riparian management objective of a 90percent SS

minimum threshold established for salmon streams.

Between 2004and 2012, IDEQ completed Beneficial Use Reconnaissance Program (BURP)wadeable streams rapid

bioassessments on the third-and fourth-order Bear Valley Creek AUs.The BURP assesses stream health using multimetric indices (biological, physical and chemical)on a 0.0

(lowest)to 3.0(highest)scale.In 2004BURP results for the third-order AU showed a stream macroinvertebrate index(SMI)score of 3.0, a stream fish index(SFI)score of 2.0

and a stream habitat index(SHI)score of 1.0, with an average score of 2.0, the minimum threshold considered supportive of beneficial uses, according to IDEQ’s Water Body

Idaho:Bear ValleyCreek|Nonpoint Source Success Stories |US EPA Page 1of 2

http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/success319/id_bear.cfm 11/3/2015
Last updated on Friday, September 04, 2015

Figure 1.Bear Valley Creek, in west-central Idaho.

Assessment Guidance.Therefore, in 2008IDEQ moved the 2.08-mile third-order AU from the list of impaired waters (for sediment impairment)to Category 2— fully supporting

assessed uses.

IDEQ performed BURP assessments on the fourth-order AU in 2008and 2012.The 2008assessment yielded an SMI score of 3.0and an SHI score of 1.0(SFI was not

included in the assessment).The average score was 2.0(supporting cold-water aquatic life).In 2012the fourth-order BURP scores were 3.0for both the SMI and SHI.The 3.0

was the highest score possible, indicating continued full support of beneficial uses.In 2008IDEQ collected percent fines data documenting that 21percent of the substrate

consisted of material less than or equal to 2.5millimeters in size.This value dropped to 9percent in 2012.According to IDEQ’s Guide to Selection of Sediment Targets for Use

in Idaho TMDLs, most impairment is noted when percent fines of this size make up more than 30percent of the substrate.As a result of these data, in the 2014reporting cycle

IDEQ is proposing to move the 7.36-mile fourth-order AU from the state’s list of impaired waters (for sediment impairment)to Category 2— fully supporting assessed uses.

Partners and Funding

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes administered the project restoring the dredged and heavily eroding area in the Upper Bear Valley Creek watershed, with participation from

Idaho and the USFS Boise National Forest and with $2.8million in funding from the federal BPA.The USFS implemented the additional riparian and streambank restoration

work throughout the watershed using a variety of USFS funding programs, as well as fish restoration funding from BPA.IDFG led the 2003community-driven restoration

project, with help from numerous partners (Trout Unlimited, Boise Valley Fly Fisherman, Borah High School and the Boise National Forest)and with $5,000in grant funding

support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Community-based Restoration Program.Through an interagency agreement, in 2009EPA provided

$57,000to the USFS for GRAIP roads analysis.In 2010a $33,000CWA section 319grant supported the restoration of an Upper Bear Valley Creek tributary.

Idaho:Bear ValleyCreek|Nonpoint Source Success Stories |US EPA Page 2of 2

http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/success319/id_bear.cfm 11/3/2015