Kootenai River habitat restoration project master plan: a conceptual feasibility analysis and design framework

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The purpose of the Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Project described in this Master Plan is to  * Restore and enhance Kootenai River habitat by addressing ecological limiting factors and constraints related to river morphology, riparian vegetation, aquatic habitat, and river management. The desired result is a more resilient ecosystem, capable of sustaining diverse native plant and animal populations, and tolerant of natural disturbances and altered regimes.  * Restore and maintain Kootenai River habitat conditions that support all life stages (i.e., migration, occupancy, spawning, incubation, recruitment, and early rearing) of endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and other aquatic focal species.  * Restore the Kootenai River landscape in a way that sustains Tribal and local culture and economy and contributes to the health of the Kootenai subbasin as both an ecological and socio‐economic region. During this initial Master Planning phase, the Kootenai Tribe’s design team collected and analyzed large amounts of existing and new information and data in order to understand historical and existing conditions in the Kootenai subbasin, specific physical and biological characteristics in each of the river reaches in the project area, and limiting factors related to habitat for focal aquatic species and other species within the project area. Based on this understanding, the Tribe’s design team developed restoration strategies and habitat restoration treatments that could be used to address those limiting factors in each project reach. These restoration treatments were combined to form habitat actions that address all limiting factors within a reach, and then applied spatially as implementation scenarios to provide examples of potential minimum, moderate, and maximum restoration levels of effort. These implementation scenarios were also used as a basis to develop conceptual cost estimates. This initial Master Plan development phase also resulted in development of a conceptual adaptive management and monitoring program, identification of anticipated environmental compliance and consultation requirements, a funding analysis, and identification of specific actions to be accomplished in subsequent project phases.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Ecology

Suggested citation: Kootenai Tribe of Idaho. 2009. Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Project Master
Plan: A Conceptual Feasibility Analysis and Design Framework. Bonners Ferry, ID.

SWAP (2/19/2016) citation:
[KTOI] Kootenai Tribe of Idaho. 2009. Kootenai River habitat restoration project master plan: a conceptual feasibility analysis and design framework. Bonners Ferry (ID): Kootenai Tribe of Idaho. [accessed 2016 Feb 8]. http://www.kootenai.org/documents/KRHRP-MP-0709-Print_001.pdf