Instream Habitat Restoration and Stream Temperature Reduction in a Whirling Disease‐Positive Spring Creek in the Blackfoot River Basin, Montana

Abstract

Anthropogenic warming of stream temperature and the presence of exotic diseases such as whirling disease are both contemporary threats to coldwater salmonids across western North America. We examined stream temperature reduction over a 15-year prerestoration and postrestoration period and the severity of Myxobolus cerebralis infection (agent of whirling disease) over a 7-year prerestoration and postrestoration period in Kleinschmidt Creek, a fully reconstructed spring creek in the Blackfoot River basin of western Montana. Stream restoration increased channel length by 36% and reduced the wetted surface area by 69% by narrowing and renaturalizing the channel. Following channel restoration, average maximum daily summer stream temperatures decreased from 15.7 C to 12.5 C, average daily temperature decreased from 11.2 C to 10.0 C, and the range of daily temperatures narrowed by 3.3 C. Despite large changes in channel morphology and reductions in summer stream temperature, the prevalence and severity of M. cerebralis infection for hatchery Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss remained high (98-100% test fish with grade > 3 infection) versus minimal for hatchery Brown Trout Salmo trutta (2% of test fish with grade-1 infection). This study shows channel renaturalization can reduce summer stream temperatures in small low-elevation, groundwater-dominated streams in the Blackfoot basin to levels more suitable to native trout. However, because of continuous high infections associated with groundwater-dominated systems, the restoration of Kleinschmidt Creek favors brown trout Salmo trutta given their innate resistance to the parasite and the higher relative susceptibility of other salmonids.

Monitoring the effectiveness of floodplain habitat restoration: A review of methods and recommendations for future monitoring

“…With stream temperatures predicted to increase by several degrees Celsius in many regions due to climate change, floodplain restoration is seen as a method that ameliorates the impacts of climate change (Beechie et al, 2013). Monitoring surface and groundwater temperatures have often been used to evaluate the effects of floodplain restoration (Bouwes et al, 2016;Johnson et al, 2005;Klein, Clayton, Alldredge, & Goodwin, 2007;Pierce, Podner, Marczak, & Jones, 2014), and typically use periodic field sampling or continuous measurements from sensors deployed in the field. Thermal infrared remote sensing can also be used to map and monitor temperatures over long stream reaches (many kilometers) (Handcock et al, 2012;Torgersen, Faux, McIntosh, Poage, & Norton, 2001).…”

Wild trout and hydrologic response to restoration of incised streams with improved water use for ranching and fisheries

“…Moreover, restoration to narrower and deeper bedforms, in conjunction with streamside woody vegetation providing shading, can significantly reduce water temperatures (e.g., Justice et al, 2017). Other restorations that narrowed and deepened spring creeks were effective at reducing water temperatures, increasing sediment transport capacity, and coarsening riffle substrates (e.g., Pierce et al, 2013Pierce et al, , 2015Pierce et al, , 2017Pierce et al, , 2019Pierce, Podner, Marczak, & Jones, 2014). Future research should monitor water temperature due to its importance in dictating physiological processes, metabolic rates, and life history events and help explain the distribution and abundance of cold-water salmonid decrease (Holt & Jorgensen, 2015;Jonsson & Jonsson, 2009;Kovach et al, 2019;Schulte, 2015).…”

Multiscale Prediction of Whirling Disease Risk in the Blackfoot River Basin, Montana: a Useful Consideration for Restoration Prioritization?

“…These restoration actions were designed to improve fish habitat and reestablish movement corridors for migratory native trout, which typically spawn and rear upstream of the sentinel cage sites, and were not designed to reduce whirling disease prevalence or severity. The warmer and less variable seasonal temperature profiles paired with the higher sediment loads in spring creeks influence whirling disease dynamics and result in a higher risk compared with basin-fed streams (Kerans et al 2005;Neudecker et al 2012;Pierce et al 2014a). Kleinschmidt Creek had extensive restoration (channel reconstruction and grazing exclusion), which resulted in a decrease in daily average summer stream temperature from 11.2 C to 10.0 C; however, there were no reductions in the severity of M. cerebralis infection at the reach.…”

“…Kleinschmidt Creek had extensive restoration (channel reconstruction and grazing exclusion), which resulted in a decrease in daily average summer stream temperature from 11.2 C to 10.0 C; however, there were no reductions in the severity of M. cerebralis infection at the reach. Infection severity remained high (3; Pierce et al 2014a), thus the natural characteristics of spring creeks may make them more susceptible to whirling disease regardless of typical habitat restoration efforts.…”