IN 2002, A PARTNERSHIP WAS DEVELOPED between the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Land and Water Consulting (now PBS&J), and a private landowner, William Grasser, to develop the Camp Creek Wetland and Stream Restoration Project. This mitigation site is located in the lower Bitterroot Valley just south of the town of Sula near the Idaho/Montana border. U.S. Forest Service and other private lands border the project area. The purpose of this project was to relocate the Camp Creek channel away from U.S. Highway 93 into a more natural riverine setting. In so doing, MDT and its partners planned to improve its ecological functioning throughout the valley bottom as well as to restore emergent and scrub/shrub wetlands and riparian habitat.
COMPLETION OF THE CAMP CREEK PROJECT included securing 80 acres of private land by MDT to allow for restoration of 2.3 miles of Camp Creek across both MDT and Grasser property. The project site was previously used for livestock grazing and hay production so restoration of natural habitat values was a key goal of the project. As part of the restoration, suitable sites were reseeded with native wetland plants. In addition, native riparian trees and shrubs were planted. Reconstruction of the Camp Creek channel included installation of instream woody structure for fish habitat; development of an active floodplain that allows for channel migration; intensive planting of riparian shrubs and trees along the channel for canopy cover and bank stability; and improved fisheries habitat for native fish including Westslope cutthroat trout and Bull trout. This restored stream channel and associated riparian and wetland habitat has matured to become a mecca for a variety of fish and wildlife including elk, moose, mule deer, mountain bluebirds, American dippers, and spotted sandpipers.
