NonBasicSpecificComments05

• Title: Comments 5
• Date: 10/23/2003
• SWSI - Doc Type: Comments

lO(23/200J 10:38 FAX

Fi~tlr8 R. Map showittg ch e locadon
of the St1.J t Rjver Van~y~ 5ul"to1Jnding
rnoutHain ranges, "rod,. :strearmJ and
public (5had~d} and private lands~

Case Study: Salt RjverVaney, Wyoming-Idaho

In the following ex3.Inple we desc.rlbe the applica~
dOll of our approach lo assess the effec:1:S of restQration
of namral SUmm(!r flows and variation from avera;c'
natural summer flows on brown .troUt (Sltlmo lrutta)
biomass a.nd abunditnce in sr.ream segmenrs (hat ace
a.nnually dewatered within the Salt River VaJley_ First..
we (1udint; ho\v we modeled each step in our approa.ch.
Second.. ,ve provide the prc:dictions andJ finally" WE
di.scuss d1 e; pros an d cons of the appro:aeb and how it
may be applied ; 11 othc:r str.eam ~stems.

study System

The Salt River watershed (2150 km~) is in west.em
'Wyoming and easlern Idaho (Figur~ 2). It is part of the
Middle Rocky Mountain physiographic province (Fen~
06man 1981) a.nd is bordered by mOUntain range5. Th~
Sa.lt .River Range to the east.. the Caribou and W~bstet

I4l 007

p.4

Trout ~esponses to FlOW Restoration

137

N
A

Carlbo u
Range

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ranges to the west, and rJle Gannett I~Iill$ tQ the south
bordet;" the watershed. Extensive alluvial d~pos.i r.s au th~
main Tlver valle)' and downstream portions of some
ffiQunlaln valleys (Love and Christianson 198;).
The Salt River is a fifth-otdcr s)'5t~m (after Strahler
19.5'''. It had a mean annual discharge of 22~5 m! /sec
between 1972 and 1995 {US Geologic.al SUlVey. unpub-
lished data).. The Sal[ River flows southwest from ir.s .
heady,rater.s. ill the Salt River Ran.se, then emerges from
me- mountains and flows Qorth for 45 km where it
meets the S\'Ja~e River at PaUisadea R..eservot..... Numer-
oua spring screams emerge froIll alluvil..1 m a.djacen 1; to
me Salt Rivt;::r and flow short distances to the river.
Five perennial IIiburaries em erge from the ~alt River
~ge ii..lJd [our Ci'or,~ tlar: Caribou and Webster ft1rlgc-"S
(Vigure 2).. These trjb\Jtaries flow through :relatively
constrained valleys 'Widlin dle mountains bUI emerge
n.o~ me mountai.l15 and flow across the alluvial vaney
before en[ering the Salt Rivera