Project Details

The Blacksmith Fork (BSF) supports a Blue Ribbon Fishery in its headwaters and the canyon. However, as the river flows out of the canyon and enters Cache Valley there are six irrigation diversions in about eight miles downstream to the Logan River. The BSF-Nibley irrigation diversion is the major fish passage barrier that prevents the upstream movement of fish between the Logan River and the BSF canyon. The BSF-Nibley Irrigation Company is in the process of rebuilding their irrigation diversion and they are agreeable to making it fish passable. In addition, about 0.7 miles upstream of the Nibley diversion, the BSF-Hyrum Irrigation Company currently uses a push-up dam (a diversion structure annually constructed of earthen materials and concrete rubble). This diversion structure is located on a split channel section of the river and is destructive to stream and riparian habitat. The canal company wants to replace this structure to improve irrigation needs, fish passage, and habitat conditions.

Provide evidence about the nature of the problem and the need to address it. Identify the significance of the problem using a variety of data sources. For example, if a habitat restoration project is being proposed to benefit greater sage-grouse, describe the existing plant community characteristics that limit habitat value for greater sage-grouse and identify the changes needed for habitat improvement.

Provide an overall goal for the project and then provide clear, specific and measurable objectives (outcomes) to be accomplished by the proposed actions. If possible, tie to one or more of the public benefits UWRI is providing.

LOCATION: Justify the proposed location of this project over other areas, include publicly scrutinized planning/recovery documents that list this area as a priority, remote sensing modeling that show this area is a good candidate for restoration, wildlife migration information and other data that help justify this project's location.

TIMING: Justify why this project should be implemented at this time. For example, Is the project area at risk of crossing an ecological or other threshold wherein future restoration would become more difficult, cost prohibitive, or even impossible.

1) Utah Wildlife Action Plan (WAP 2015): Actions related to dams and diversions will focus on correcting barriers to fish movement and other mechanisms of habitat and population fragmentation. The WAP designates riverine, aquatic-forested, and aquatic scrub-shrub as key habitats for Species of Greatest Conservation Need. All these habitat types are present on and adjacent to the project footprint. Completion of this project would prevent destruction or further degradation of these key habitats. Statewide, Utah's surface area is composed of 0.22% riverine, 0.10% aquatic - scrub/shrub, and 0.01% aquatic - forested. Improvements in these very rare key habitats is probably one of the highest goals of implementing the WAP. Management recommendations in the WAP, for these particular habitats and relevant to this particular project, specifically include: maintaining or restoring sediment flow regimes.

2) UDWR Strategic Plan: this project will also help the UDWR meet its Resource Goal, which is to "Expand wildlife populations and conserve sensitive species by protecting and improving wildlife habitat. This project will specifically address objectives 2 and 3 of the UDWR Resource Goal, which are to "increase fish and game populations to meet management plan objectives, and expand quality fishing and hunting opportunities," and "conserve sensitive species to prevent them from becoming listed as threatened or endangered."

3) UDWR Logan River Drainage Management Plan (Hydrologic Unit       ) identifies.....

4) Bonneville Cutthroat Trout Conservation Agreement and Strategy (signed by all states within historic range): The goal of the BCT CAS is to (1) "ensure the long-term existence of BCT within its historic range [page 2]. This project will help to address the specific objective of supporting additional BCT conservation populations in the Bear River in Utah [Table 2].

5) The project area lies within the boundaries of Watershed Restoration Initiative Focus Areas along the BSF.

6) Little Bear-Logan Drainage (LBLD) Management Plan
Native species: Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, Objective 1: Maintain known and potential conservation populations in the LBLD, Strategy c.1. Evaluate the feasibility of enhancing habitat with instream structures in high-priority sub-drainages.

7) Sportfish management for intensive yield waters, maintain a catch rate of 0.5 fish/hr.

8) Wild fish waters, General strategies, a. maintain fish populations exclusively by regulations
b. Work cooperatively with land management agencies and the public to enhance or maintain aquatic habitats and aquatic wildlife.

List management plans where this project will address an objective or strategy in the plan. Describe how the project area overlaps the objective or strategy in the plan and the relevance of the project to the successful implementation of those plans. It is best to provide this information in a list format with the description immediately following the plan objective or strategy.

If applicable, detail how the proposed project will significantly reduce the risk of fuel loading and/or continuity of hazardous fuels including the use of fire-wise species in re-seeding operations. Describe the value of any features being protected by reducing the risk of fire. Values may include; communities at risk, permanent infrastructure, municipal watersheds, campgrounds, critical wildlife habitat, etc. Include the size of the area where fuels are being reduced and the distance from the feature(s) at risk.

Describe how the project has the potential to improve water quality and/or increase water quantity, both over the short and long term. Address run-off, erosion, soil infiltration, and flooding, if applicable.

Description of efforts, both completed and planned, to bring the proposed action into compliance with any and all cultural resource, NEPA, ESA, etc. requirements. If compliance is not required enter "not applicable" and explain why not it is not required.

A fish passable diversion structure is currently being designed by Sunrise Engineering for the Nibley Canal.  A topographic survey has been completed that will be used for the design process. It's planned that a series of large-rock step structures (aka, cross vanes) will be used to provide the elevation needed for water diversion into the canal, as well as providing upstream fish passage.

It's estimated that about 250 tons of large rock (approximately 2 to 4 feet diameter) will be need to be purchased for the Nibley cross vanes. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources construction crew will build the cross vanes over about a 2-week period in late summer or autumn. In addition, fill material will need to be placed under the bridge abutments and apron to support their structural stability and facilitate the fish passage design. An inflatable dam structure will also be incorporated into the uppermost rock cross vane. It's envisioned that this structure would only be needed to divert water on the very lowest water years. When not in use the structure is completely deflated and will allow for the passage of streambed sediment downstream and fish passage upstream. Sunrise Engineering will provide construction oversight on the bridge and abutment stabilization and inflatable dam work. The UDWR habitat biologist will provide construction oversight of the UDWR construction crew.

The Hyrum diversion will be rebuilt with a low concrete sill at the current channel split. A series of rock cross vanes will be used downstream of the sill to provide fish passage and to hold channel grade. About 1,500 of streambanks will be stabilized with vegetative plantings and bioengineering treatments used to improve the riparian area and its sediment filtering capacity.

The Hyrum Canal will be put in a 36-inch diameter pipe from the new diversion structure down canal for about one mile. In addition, 1,520 feet of 24-inch diameter pipe will be installed in a canal lateral.

Describe the actions, activities, tasks to be implemented as part of the proposed project; how these activities will be carried out, equipment to be used, when, and by whom.

Describe plans to monitor for project success and achievement of stated objectives. Include details on type of monitoring (vegetation, wildlife, etc.), schedule, assignments and how the results of these monitoring efforts will be reported and/or uploaded to this project page. If needed, upload detailed plans in the "attachments" section.

List any and all partners (agencies, organizations, NGO's, private landowners) that support the proposal and/or have been contacted and included in the planning and design of the proposed project. Describe efforts to gather input and include these agencies, landowners, permitees, sportsman groups, researchers, etc. that may be interested/affected by the proposed project. Partners do not have to provide funding or in-kind services to a project to be listed.

As noted, BSF in Cache Valley has been an intractable problem for decades with regards to fish passage, habitat alteration, and the dewatering of the river during dry years caused by irrigation diversions. Providing fish passage at the Nibley diversion is likely the key step to beginning to solve these issues. If these two diversions can be improved, then further potential work with these canal companies is to provide instream flows below their diversions, even during dry years. A couple different private water rights holders have expressed interest in keeping their water instream below these diversions. TU has been working with these water rights holders on potential water leases to provide instream flows for this purpose. Lastly, the BSF is a tributary to the Lower Logan River, which is currently in the midst of an Environmental Assessment to evaluate rebuild options for the Crockett Diversion. One of the major goals of this EA process is to maintain and improve river flows on this part of the Logan River, which would provide additional fisheries benefits to improving habitat and flows on the BSF n Cache Valley.

Detail future methods or techniques (including administrative actions) that will be implemented to help in accomplishing the stated objectives and to insure the long term success/stability of the proposed project. This may include: post-treatment grazing rest and/or management plans/changes, wildlife herd/species management plan changes, ranch plans, conservation easements or other permanent protection plans, resource management plans, forest plans, etc.

Potential for the proposed action to improve quality or quantity of sustainable uses such as grazing, timber harvest, biomass utilization, recreation, etc. Grazing improvements may include actions to improve forage availability and/or distribution of livestock.