Hayfork culvert replacement delivers results

Bull trout are now found in the upper reaches of Mores Creek.  Recent field monitoring found large, migratory fish have passed through the new Hayfork culvert crossing into the upper reaches of the creek.

Back in the middle of last decade the Ted Trueblood Chapter began working in earnest with the Boise National Forest on a number of projects with one emphasis on improving habitat connections by replacing culverts that block fish passage.

A major step forward came with a new, bottomless arch culvert at Roaring River, a tributary to the Middle Fork Boise River, one that opened up several miles of habitat for redband and bull trout.

The Ted Trueblood Chapter put up several thousand dollars from an Embrace a Stream grant for the Roaring River project.  When project bids were made and the work done the Forest was able to cover the costs without the TU contribution.

So with a few thousand dollars burning a hole in our pocket we went looking for another project.  And we found it in the upper reaches of Mores Creek, a stream where TU had been working hard with the Forest, Boise County, and others to restore the floodplain and improve water quality and fish habitat.

The photo above shows the Hayfork culvert and how it inhibits fish passage due to it being perched above the bed of Mores Creek.  The Hayfork Campground is accessed at this crossing, some nine miles upstream of the Idaho City area.

The TU money helped leverage other funding sources and by late summer 2009 the culvert was being pulled (see below) and a new, bottomless arch culvert was put in place (photo at bottom).

The culvert is well up in the Mores Creek watershed.  Aside from Highway 21 running near Mores Creek the area has few roads and in the upper elevation the water is cold: great habitat for bull trout.  Sightings of bull trout have been sparse.  Some reports from 2000 and 2001.  Most of these fish are refugees from the upper Boise River North, Middle and South Forks, but under certain conditions they are entrained and spill from Arrowrock Reservoir into Lucky Peak Reservoir.  Mores Creek is the only perennial, free-clowing stream into Lucky Peak.

Now, two year after the culvert is replaced comes news from the Boise National Forest that on September 1, 2011 the Forest Service electroshocked Mores Creek upstream of Mores Creek.  In a short, 100 meter section of the stream they found five large bull trout.

We congratulate the Boise National Forest for getting this project done and achieving results.

It is results like this that inspire Trout Unlimited members to keep up the efforts to restore America’s streams for cold water fish.