In 2020, DFHP is proud to support five habitat restoration and conservation projects in Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona.  These projects support important work for desert fish and their habitats and will address a wide range of conservation issues.  We look forward to seeing the results of these efforts!

Warner Basin Aquatic Habitat Partnership Fish Passage Recovery Effort – Deep Creek Relict Weir (OR)

Implementing Organization: Lake County Umbrella Watershed Council

Partners: Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Bureau of Land Management, Open Rivers Initiative, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Adel Water District, Lakeview Soil and Water Conservation District, Desert Fish Habitat Partnership

This project will construct a rock ramp fishway to replace the Relict Irrigation Weir on Deep Creek. Currently, the Relict Weir is thought to be a complete barrier to fish passage and replacing it will provide volitional passage for Warner Sucker and Warner Lakes Redband Trout, as well as other native species, opening up 2 stream miles.  Providing passage at this irrigation structure will allow access to high-quality spawning, rearing, and holding habitat necessary for Warner Sucker and Warner Lakes Redband Trout to complete their diverse life history strategies. Additionally, addressing this fish passage barrier will increase the potential for genetic exchange and heighten the potential for functional Warner Sucker and Warner Lakes Redband trout metapopulations among the focal tributaries and the Warner Lakes.  This project is part of a multi-phase project that aims to provide fish passage at 10 irrigation diversion structures within three focal streams, Deep Creek being one of them. Ultimately, the goal is recovery of the Warner Sucker.

Matheson Wetland Razorback Sucker Larval Pond (UT)

Implementing Organization: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Partners: The Nature Conservancy, Utah Endangered Species Mitigation Fund, Colorado River Recovery Program, Utah's Watershed Restoration Initiative, Utah Department of Transportation, Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands, Enterprise Grant, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Desert Fish Habitat Partnership

Natural recruitment of wild-spawned Razorback Sucker necessary for self-sustaining populations is lacking, and many populations in the Upper Colorado River require stocking of adult fish. This project will expand the excavation of a floodplain wetland pond that serves as a Razorback Sucker nursery habitat. The pond will be expanded by 2-4 acres and deepened to an ideal depth of 5 feet. Expanding this wetland pond will increase the amount of the only wetland/floodplain rearing habitat in a 64 mile stretch of the Colorado River available to larval Razorback Sucker. A newly constructed water diversion with fish screens will allow larval fish to be entrained in the wetland while excluding large predatory fish. This will provide a safe haven from non-native fish species to ensure greater survivorship so juveniles can reach an adequate size before being released back into the river.  The goal of this project is to increase recruitment of wild spawned Razorback Sucker and other native fish species in the Colorado River via improvements to and management of the existing nursery habitat within the Matheson Wetlands Preserve.

Multispecies Assessments to Inform Native Fish Conservation in the Bonneville Basin and Lahontan and Central Nevada Basins (UT, NV)

Implementing Organization: Trout Unlimited

Partners: Nevada Department of Wildlife, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Desert Fish Habitat Partnership, Trout Unlimited, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The goal of this project is to provide tools in which DFHP can prioritize funding to projects that have the greatest conservation potential. This will be accomplished through completing multispecies assessments for the Bonneville and Lahontan and Central Nevada Basins. Prioritizing conservation efforts often represents a data gap for Fish Habitat Partnerships and other natural resource agencies. DFHP has used the 2015 Streams and Rivers Assessment completed by the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) to prioritize proposed projects in areas where additional multispecies assessments have yet to be completed. While this serves as an important foundation in decision making, these proposed regional assessments will help focus DFHP’s funding decisions consistent with the DFHP Strategic Plan and National Fish Habitat Action Plan. Additionally, these assessments will include climatic considerations, consistent with regional assessments completed in the past, so that DFHP can improve upon their overall ability to include climate change considerations in decision-making processes. Lastly, data from these assessments will be distributed through interactive webmaps and with the NFHP National Science and Data Committee to aid other Fish Habitat Partnerships and natural resource agencies prioritization processes.

Remote Monitoring Use of Tributary Streams by Native Fish Species in the San Miguel/Dolores River Watersheds (CO)

Implementing Organization: Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Partners: Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Desert Fish Habitat Partnership

Current gaps in understanding of Flannelmouth Sucker, Bluehead Sucker, and Roundtail Chub movement exist within the San Miguel and Dolores River Basins. The goal of this project is to assess tributary use by the three species to better understand how and when these native species utilize spawning habitats at the riverscape scale. This will be accomplished through deployment of mobile submersible Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) Tag array in tributaries to the San Miguel and Dolores rivers. Using the spatial and temporal data gained from this project, resource managers will be better prepared to focus protection and restoration efforts on tributaries that support robust spawning populations of the three species.

Big Bonito Creek Barrier Replacement (AZ)

Implementing Organization: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Partners: White Mountain Apache Tribe, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Partners for Fish and Wildlife, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Bureau of Reclamation, Desert Fish Habitat Partnership

This project will replace an existing barrier in Big Bonito Creek to protect native fish species (Desert Sucker, Speckled Dace, and Apache Trout) from a managed sportfish population downstream. This barrier would provide 21.8 miles of high-quality habitat, which represents 18% of all existing Apache Trout recovery habitat and will also serve as a large, intact habitat for DFHP species (Desert Sucker, Speckled Dace). Additionally, the possibility of introducing Loach Minnow (an endangered species) into the stream will be explored through tribal council approval and consultation with the Loach Minnow recovery team.  The overall goal of this project is to create a long-term refugia for native fish from non-native fish species and climate change factors.  This system is known to have adequate habitat quality and consistent water flows to support robust and resilient native fish populations once protected from non-native species.

The Desert Fish Habitat Partnership is thrilled to be able to assist all of these projects and their partners in these endeavors!