Lower Clearwater River Tributaries Stream Inventory

The downloadable ZIP file contains an Esri shapefile.

The Nez Perce Soil and Water Conservation District (NPSWCD) completed the Lower Canyon Tributaries stream habitat inventory and assessment on several tributaries of the Lower Clearwater River. The data collected provides land managers with a tool to evaluate and prioritze stream improvements in order to develop steelhead habitat restoration projects.  Tributaries inventoried include Beardy Gulch, Bedrock Creek, Catholic Creek, Cole Canyon, Cottonwood Creek, Coyote Gulch, Hatwai Creek, Jacks Creek, Pine Creek, Rattlesnake Creek, Wheeler Canyon and Zenner Canyon.

The study area is within the jurisdictional bourndaries of Nez Perce, Latah, and Clearwater counties, State of Idaho, Whitman County, State of Washington, and the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. Encompassing 210,199 acres, the Lower Canyon Tributaries geographic area is located within the Clearwater River Basin.

During the summers of 2011 through 2013, 607 miles of stream were inventoried. Coordination with over 200 landowners occured prior to field data collection.

All methods were collected according to the Stream Assessment Methodology (Rasmussen, 2006). This protocol was adapted fron the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service Stream Visual Assessment Protocol.

The Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (SVAP) consists of fourteen parameters.  Each criterion is given a numerical rating on a scale of 1 to 10, where the highest number represents the best condition.  An index is created by totaling the values of all criteria evaluated and dividing by the number of criteria evaluated (USDA, 2004).  This index is then divided into a four component ranking system consisting of poor, fair, good, and excellent.

The Lower Canyon Tributaries Stream Inventory and Assessment can be found on the NPSWCD's website. (http://www.nezperceswcd.org/Portals/2/DocumentLibrary/Publications/LCRT_SAMReport2014FinalReducedsize.pdf).

These data were contributed to INSIDE Idaho at the University of Idaho Library in 2015 & 2016.