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BOA OGOI Water/Land/Habitat Restoration Project - RCPP in Idaho

Project Information

Lead Partner: Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation

Supporting Partners: Bear River Hydroelectric Project Environmental Coordination Committee, Utah State University, National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust

Lead State: ID

Project Years: 2021-2026

Primary Resource Concern: Long term protection of land

Secondary Resource Concerns: Aquatic habitat, Degraded Plant Condition, Storage and handling of pollutants, Terrestrial habitat

Total Funding Amount: $954,350.00

Activities Funded: Land Management

 

Idaho Funding and Activities

Land Management: $734,850.00

Project Summary

The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation (Tribe) is a federally recognized tribe committed to developing, managing, and protecting tribal water and related resources. Tribal members are the direct decedents of those who lost their lives during the 1863 Bear River Massacre. The Massacre site is located on the northern bank of the Bear River, also called Boa Ogoi (Big River) by the Tribe, in Franklin County, Idaho. Over the past 160 years, the riparian habitat along the Bear River, and the river itself, have become severely degraded due to agricultural production. In many areas, the native vegetation has been overrun with non-native, invasive species resulting in negative impacts on terrestrial and aquatic habitats as well as loss of ecosystem functions such as nutrient uptake and sediment retention. The specific goal of the restoration is to create a site that evokes the ethos of the precolonial landscape but is resilient to climate change. The project will remove invasive species, re-establish native vegetation including culturally important medicinal and food species, and improve wildlife and fisheries habitat.  Additionally, this project will improve water quality, restore and enhance existing wetlands and create additional ponds and wetlands to attract a greater abundance and diversity of wildlife. Partners will also develop a resource to connect present and future generations of the Tribe to their historical and cultural heritage and put project land into entity-held conservation easements. Battle Creek provides an opportunity to apply processed-based restoration to improve ecological and hydrologic functions on project land and land serviced by the Bear River. 

 

Ranking Criteria

  • Land offered for enrolment must be within the geographic footprint of the RCPP Project.
  • Application must seek to address one or more of the priorities outlined in the project-specific Programmatic Partnership Agreement (PPA)

PPA Priorities

  • Russian Olive and other Invasive Species Removal
  • Revegetation of Native Species
  • Wetland Creation and Enhancement
  • Increase Aquatic Habitat
  • Increase Terrestrial Habitat

Laren Nalder

NRCS Conservation Team Leader, Preston Field Office