Crane creek is spring FED and flows through the west side of the wood river valley

IT is a tributary to fourmile creek, and in the past was leveed and straightened for irrigation use. The upstream half of crane creek on private property (sevenmile ranch LLC) was RE-routed from the straightened reach and restored in 2008, and the downstream half on private property (wampler ranches LLC) was RE-routed and restored in 2021. Both of these projects were funded largely by US fish and wildlife service in partnership with trout unlimited and other collaborators. There is a small section between the two restoration projects where a total fish passage barrier exists and the channel is still leveed and straightened. The barrier, a drop culvert that used to provide water control for irrigation, prohibits passage year-round for native redband trout. With the downstream restoration complete, there is also the possibility for endangered species act listed threatened bull trout or future anadromous salmonids to access crane creek, and these populations will also have upstream passage blocked if the fish barrier is not remedied.FY 2022 funds were granted for an engineer to design the removal and replacement of a culvert that is a complete barrier to fish passage (see tentative design plan image below, figure 1). The design developed will be sufficient for approval by natural resources conservation service, as natural resources conservation service holds a wetland reserve easement on the property and must approve all actions. The next phase is implementation of the design plan. For this project we will remove the drop culvert (which is impassible to fish) and install a roughened channel to maintain upstream water surface elevations. A new access road crossing approximately 350 FT downstream of the existing culvert will be built. A section of the crane creek canal may be decommissioned between the existing culvert and wampler ranch, and a new channel will be built to the east that utilizes existing historic channel scars and reconnecting part of the wetland floodplain. If possible, we want to rebuild a part of the old crane creek canal so that is looks more like a natural stream with habitat swales. This will add habitat for both fish and oregon spotted frog.