The Sweetwater Forest Enhancement Project is located within Nez Perce and Lewis Counties, Idaho. The project boundary encompasses the Sweetwater drainage, a tributary to Lapwai Creek. The map below shows the project boundary in red. The green shaded areas are those with forested land cover.
Funds for this project are provided by the Idaho Department of Lands in Cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service as part of the State and Private Forestry Landscape Scale Restoration Grant program which falls under the authority of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978, Public Law 95-313, as amended.
The conservation district developed the project in order to improve forest health, mitigate fire threats, restore steelhead habitat and riparian function, improve water quality and treat invasive species within the Sweetwater Watershed. Grant funded efforts include thinning to improve forest health and reduce fire risk; noxious weed control to restore ecologic water retention of meadows, planting native forbs, trees, shrubs in riparian areas to stabilize stream banks, fencing and water developments to reduce sediment and nutrient loads, and conducting education and outreach to increase landowner knowledge and participation in forest and stream restoration.
Goals
- Improve/protect steelhead habitat.
- Improve Forest Health to provide fire suppression, invasive species control, healthy trees, resiliency to climate change.
Landowner Projects
Landowners within the project boundary who have forestlands and a Forest Stewardship Plan are eligible for project funds. Interested landowners can contact the district by phone at 208-843-2931 or E-mail Nikki Lane, who is the project contact for landowners.
Background
Lapwai Creek is federally designated as critical habitat for ESA Threatened Lower Clearwater Steelhead population. This project focuses work on the forestlands within the Sweetwater Creek drainage of the Lapwai Creek watershed.
Forestlands in the project area contribute to steelhead habitat & surface water quality degradation. The forestlands are in poor health resulting in increased fire danger, higher susceptibility to insects/disease, increased non-native species densities, and degraded terrestrial/aquatic ecosystem function.
Our goal is to improve forest health and protect steelhead habitat through the implementation of treatment measures identified in the Lapwai Creek Ecological Restoration Strategy.
Project Activities
Links to Additional Information
Idaho Department of Lands
Trees of North Idaho
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This web page is funded in part by the Idaho Department of Lands in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the Bonneville Power Administration.