The quinn river management unit (QU) contains some of the most important habitat for ESA-listed lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT oncorhynchus henshawi) across the species range

This $715,326.42 Cooperative Agreement awarded by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under the Aquatic Resources Management program (CFDA 15.244) is focused on restoring instream and riparian habitats across 25 miles of streams in the Quinn River Management Unit in Nevada. The project aims to increase resilience of the Lahontan cutthroat trout, an endangered species, to climate change, mining, and other stressors. Key activities include implementing low-tech, process-based restoration techniques such as constructing beaver dam analogs and woody debris structures to raise groundwater levels, increase late summer baseflows, cool water temperatures, and enhance habitat complexity. The award will fund hand crews to install these restoration elements, and the ecological outcomes will be monitored and shared with partners. This work directly supports objectives in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Lahontan cutthroat trout recovery plan and will also benefit other wildlife species in the project area.

Trout unlimited, the bureau of land management, and many other project partners have worked in the QU for decades to improve outcomes for LCT. This project is focused on restoring instream and riparian habitats across 25 miles of stream in four QU sub-watersheds (i.e., riser creek, washburn creek, crowley creek, pole creek) to increase LCT resiliency to climate change, mining, and other stressors and to help reconnect LCT into larger habitat fragments and restore their migratory life-history. Instream restoration actions will follow low-tech process-based restoration (ltpbr) techniques which rely on using hand crews to build low-risk, temporary wood elements (e.g., woody debris jams and beaver DAM analogs) to initiate vertical and lateral hydrologic connectivity. Specifically, ltpbr actions will be implemented to raise groundwater levels, increase late summer baseflow, cool summer water temperatures, and increase habitat complexity. This project directly addresses QU LCT management objectives established in the U.S. Fish and wildlife services 2019 updated LCT recovery plan. In addition, instream restoration actions will have myriad benefits for other wildlife species in blms restoration landscape area #9, including sage grouse, mule deer, and pronghorn. The funds from this award will be used to hire ltpbr hand crews to install beaver DAM analogs and other woody debris structures to accomplish project goals and objectives. Ecological outcomes of restoration actions will be monitored and assessed by trout unlimited with results shared widely with the LCT coordinating committee and other collaborators.