Watershed Restoration
Clearwater National Forest

Over the past five years, the watershed restoration program has become a high priority on the Forest. The Forest along with the Nez Perce Tribe, who is an integral partner in the funding and implementation of various projects, has implemented projects to improve watershed conditions.

Today, the focus of the watershed restoration efforts basically involves two main components: road decommissioning projects and aquatic passage improvement projects.

The road decommissioning program involves the elimination of excessive roads (roads not needed for future management) through various methods. These methods range from the total removal of the road from the landscape (obliteration) to reducing erosional risks and maintaining the road travelway (long-term intermittent use) to abandonment (roads without any erosional risks). The long-term objectives of the road decommissioning projects is to reduce or eliminate erosion sources so that instream conditions (i.e. substrate conditions and pool quantity and quality) may improve to natural conditions. The photo on the left shows a road being returned to the original slope.

The aquatic passage improvement projects involve the replacement of structures impeding the upstream and downstream passage of fish and other aquatic organisms.

The projects primarily involve the replacement of old culverts on roads slated for long-term use. The culvert in the picture on the right is the result of a replacement project.

Microsoft Power Point or Adobe PDF slide shows with more pictures and project details can be viewed from the links below. Depending on your software and connection choose a file type. The PPT files are sharper but are much larger. The large files will take a few minutes to open, please be patient.

To view a PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don't already have Acrobat Reader, it's available free from Adobe at this link:

Aquatic Passage Improvement (3MB PPT) or (1.5MB PDF)

Road Decommissioning (7.5MB PPT) or (3.9MB PDF)