See some differences between these two pictures? You may be wondering where all the logs came from in one of the pictures. Well, they were put there as part of a steelhead habitat restoration project to help make more complex habitat for fish living in the East Fork Potlatch River. Complex habitat is good because it provides cover for rearing fish to avoid predators, creates places for fish to rest and feed, and moves the river flow so that new pools are formed and spawning gravels stay in the stream rather than flush downstream. The other picture, not part of the restoration project, has no wood and is very simple habitat that doesn't provide all these benefits to juvenile steelhead.
IDFG monitors these projects to assess their success and have found that there are more juvenile steelhead in stream areas that have more wood in them. So we will continue to do this type of work to make better habitat in the Potlatch and other streams across the state.