This team will be responsible for planning and coordinating the reseeding and planting of herbaceous and woody plants in the construction areas.

The Vegetation Team will carryout revegetation planning activities, collecting seed and willows, sowing seed, and planting herbaceous and woody plants and willow cuttings.

We are well underway with collecting seed and willows!!

Volunteers collecting woolgrass (Scirpus cyperinus)

Bundling whole shrubs for easy cutting.

Twining and loading willows onto trailer for transport to project site.

Clark Fork River Delta Revegetation Plan

Purpose:To provide diverse wildlife habitats and recreational experiences by restoring self-supporting native riparian plant communities.

Methods:Revegetation planning will include assessment of historical and current conditions and determining reference sites. This will aid in planning desired species communities. Riparian communities include: emergent wetland, shrub/scrub wetland, wet meadow and forested wetland communities.

Adapted from: Hoag, J. 2007. USDA-NRCS Technical Note No. 23

Timeline

Criteria used for selecting native plant material includes:

• Native (Northern Rockies ecoregion, Figure 2). Occurs locally at reference sites, within ecoregion and within 1000 foot elevation band.
  

  Figure 2. Northern Rockies Ecoregion. (http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/level_iii_iv.htm)

• Establishes and spreads quickly (i.e. rhizomatous)
• Reduces erosion (strong root system and high ground cover)
• Readily available commercially
• Provides wildlife habitat diversity (i.e. big game and waterfowl)
• Controls weed establishment (i.e. aggressive species)
• Has cultural significance (i.e. Wapato)
• Potential research species (i.e. Thalictrum dasycarpum and Hypericum majus )

Plant material type selection criteria:

Seed

Seed will be of native origin. Some of the seed will be collected locally by a contractor, some grown out in seed increase plots, and some collected by volunteers. Commercial seed will certified with a tag attached for purity, inert matter, weed seed, other crop seed and hard seed. Seed containing state listed noxious weeds will not be accepted.

Seeding benefits:

1. Economical feasible
2. Readily available
3. Allows to provide for species diversity
4. Used mainly for grasses and forbs, but shrub seed may be used as well.
5. Easy to sow verses planting stock.

Cuttings

Cuttings for contractor work will be collected in part by volunteers and purchased commercially. Cuttings will be sourced from within Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. All cuttings will be delivered live and dormant cut from healthy plants.

Cutting benefits:

1. Cost is lower that nursery container plants,
2. Willows will establish readily with direct sticking,
3. Nursery stooling beds are available for larger supplies needed for engineering design,
4. Large natural stands of willows occur in our local area.

Container and bareroot plants

Plants will be delivered dormant and hardened off to survive current weather conditions. Plants will be weed free. Plants will be delivered in boxes and upright on pallets for easy transport around the project site.

Container and bareroot benefits:

1. Most successful in establishment,
2. Established most quickly in essential erosion control areas,
3. Lowest mortality rate,
4. Best for outcompeting weeds immediately, especially large stock.

Project Habitat Types:

Emergent Wetland. 2061.5 feet to 2062.5 ft. This type of habitat is defined by the dominance of erect rooted herbaceous (not woody) wetland plants. Species planned n this zone will include grass and grass likes. Plant material used will consist of 10 cubic inch containers planted at a rate of 1×1 to 4×4 foot spacing.

Scrub-Shrub habitat 2062.5 ft. to 2064.5 ft. This habitat is defined by >30% canopy cover of shrubs or small trees <6m (20 ft.) in height. At the lowest elevation, this habitat will include the shoreline fringe. Treatment in this habitat will include seeding, planting container stock, bareroot stock and cuttings. Containers, bareroot and cuttings will be planted at a rate of 5×5 to 15×15 foot spacing.

Wetland Meadow habitat is defined by <30% canopy cover of shrubs and small trees. Planting in this habitat type will mainly consist of grasses and grass likes with a smaller component of forbs. Seed will be drill seeded at ¼ to ½ inch deep at approximately 26 pounds per acre.

Forested Wetland habitat. 2064.5 ft. to 2066.5 feet. This type of habitat has woody vegetation >6 m (20 ft.) in height with >30% canopy cover. Planting in this area will consist of woody shrubs and trees at a rate of 8×8 to 12×12 foot spacing.

Habitat Planting Design:

Design with aerial background at summer lake level elevation.

Habitat Planting Design with no aerial background.

Planting Methods:

Container, bareroot, cuttings and plug planting:

Planting will occur in early spring while plants are still dormant and after the ground has adequately thawed. When planting in spring, plants will have ample water availability to become established, vs. in fall when the water table drops. Spring planting will also reduce the grazing pressure because animals have many foraging choices other than the planted woody species. In the fall, woody species are a more desirable foraging choice.

A total of 20,182 variously sized container plants and bare root plants will be planted with hoe dads, power augers, waterjet stingers and dibblesticks.

Herbaceous plugs and coir netting

Dibble sticks will be used to plant the 72,837 10 cu inch wetland herbaceous plugs within the coir matting.

Drill and broadcast seeding

Seed will be preferably drill seeded. A smooth firm seedbed will be required. Seed will be drill seeded at ¼ to ½ inch deep at approximately 24 pounds of Pure Live Seed (PLS) per acre.  Seeding will occur in late April after ground has adequately thawed

Species list:

Past opportunities: