Potlatch River
Encyclopedia
The Potlatch River is in the state of Idaho
in the United States
. About 56 miles (90.1 km) long, it is the lowermost major tributary to the Clearwater River
, a tributary of the Snake River
that is in turn a tributary of the Columbia River
. Once surrounded by arid grassland
s of the Columbia Plateau
adjacent to the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains
, the Potlatch today is used mainly for agriculture
and irrigation
purposes.
Its name derives from potlatch
, a type of ceremony held by the indigenous people
of the Pacific Northwest
; one such tribe lived along the river for hundreds of years before the arrival of whites. Pioneers settled the watershed and established farms and ranches in the late 19th century. After that, logging
eliminated most of the forests within the watershed and the ecology of the river is still in the process of recovery. Fishing
, hiking
and camping
are popular recreational activities on the river; 14 percent the watershed lies on public lands. Before logging and agriculture, many varieties of riparian and forest plants once populated the catchment, and several species of fish still swim the river and its tributaries.
are the source of the Potlatch River. The Potlatch's course traces a southwesterly line across the eastern Columbia Plateau in the arid Rocky Mountain foothills. Two forks form the river's headwaters in the southern part of the Idaho Panhandle
. The West Fork drains part of Latah County
and the East Fork is in Clearwater County
. These two forks combine near Helmer, and soon the river descends into a canyon that continues all the way to the mouth. While in the canyon, it receives Pine, Big Bear, Middle Potlatch and Little Potlatch Creeks from the north, and Boulder and Cedar Creeks from the south. Idaho State Highway 3
follows part of the lower canyon, and the town of Juliaetta
is located at the Middle Potlatch Creek confluence. The river merges with the Clearwater at the elevation of 801 feet (244.1 m) between the towns of Myrtle and Spalding
. Its average discharge
at the mouth, according to a USGS stream gauge, is 379.8 cuft/s. A peak flow of 8150 cuft/s was recorded there in 2006. The river reaches its highest peaks in the winter and early spring, while it reduces to a trickle by summer and autumn. The river mainly flows over and through coarse Columbia River basalts that comprise the Columbia Plateau, similar in geology to the Palouse River
farther west.
bordered by forested mountains, on the eastern edge of the arid Columbia Plateau. Because of its location just southwest of the foothills of the Rockies, the Potlatch River receives much more rainfall than watersheds just to the west, such as the Palouse and Tucannon River
s. In 1805 and again in 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition
passed the mouth of the Potlatch River while traveling down the Clearwater River. They referred to it as "a large creek" and named it Colter's Creek, in honor of John Colter
, a member of the expedition. It is not known if they were the first whites to see the river. The modern name of the river was adopted in 1897.
The native environment stayed relatively intact until settlers began to arrive in western Idaho in great numbers in the 1870s, and miners also were attracted by a gold
strike at nearby Orofino
, on the banks of the Clearwater River. Many of these emigrants set up dryland farms and ranches in the prairies surrounding the Potlatch River. Soil conditions generally improve as one travels southwards through the watershed, but there was a major drawback to growing crops in the southern part of the basin: the inaccessibility of water. Already scarce in the arid Potlatch River drainage, the river's water was hard to reach because of the steep canyon it passes through in most of its lower course. Farmers were restricted to growing crops that did not require irrigation
, and many of the lands that did not have access to abundant-enough water were relegated to pasture or hay
producing status.
At first, the forests of the watershed were not significantly affected, but after logging
operations sprung up near the turn of the century, most of the virgin timber in the watershed was cleared. The first sawmills were built to provide lumber for local uses, such as building houses and barns. Soon, however, the Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway extended its tracks into the area, allowing lumber to be exported out of the basin. Logging turned out to be a very profitable industry but had a lasting negative effect on the ecology of the Potlatch River watershed.
Splash dam
s, greased chutes, railroad landings, railroad branch lines and steam donkey
operations were among the strategies utilized to exploit the watershed's resources of timber. Unfortunately, railroad embankments and fills used to build up tributaries had artificially straightened them in the process, and erosion
increased dramatically on the barren hillside, causing many streams to become much siltier than they naturally would be. Nearly all the old-growth forest in the watershed is now gone, and the forests that remain are mostly second-growth stands.
. Cottonwoods, quaking aspen, maple
, and alder
formed the riparian zone
along the Potlatch River. In the foothills
, a meadow steppe
environment abounding with black hawthorn, snowberry and small conifers flourished, while along the banks of smaller tributaries, hawthorn
and mock orange
grew. Camas
and forb
s thrived in the thinly distributed seasonal wetland
s along the river and its larger tributary creeks. The forests were mainly a mix of Douglas fir and ponderosa pine
, interspersed with rare stands of grand fir
, western redcedar, western white pine
, and larch
, and an understory of oceanspray, ninebark, serviceberry
, wild rose
and snowberry. Wildfire
s burned through the watershed from time to time, clearing the way for new growth. After human intervention, these vegetation communities continued to persist, but in lesser numbers, and the grasslands have mostly been wiped out by farming. The average annual precipitation
ranges from 15 to 50 in (381 to 1,270 mm) per year, and annual variations in temperature are around 25 to 100 °F (-3.9 to 37.8 C).
According to a study from 2003–2004, there were 13 different species of fish
in the Potlatch River watershed, including speckled dace
, longnose dace
, rainbow trout
(both wild and farm-raised), brook trout
, largemouth bass
, pumpkinseed
, northern pikeminnow, redside shiner, sculpin
, bridgelip sucker
, largescale sucker
, and yellow perch
. Migration of steelhead, the anadromous phase of rainbow trout, has mostly been eliminated because of the construction of dams downstream on the Snake
and Columbia River
s. The two species of dace were cumulatively the largest individual fish population in the watershed, while steelhead accounted for 58.4% of the biomass
. Of all the streams sampled during the study, the West Fork Potlatch River had the highest diversity because of its relatively pristine condition. The lower section of the river suffers from chronic pollution caused by agricultural runoff. From 2005 to 2008, the population of steelhead (rainbow) trout in the watershed was recorded by the Potlatch River Steelhead Monitoring and Evaluation Program (PRSME). There was no data for steelhead populations in the main stem but 197 adult steelhead were recorded in the East Fork of the river, while an average of 226 was recorded annually in one of the river's larger tributaries, Big Bear Creek. Outmigration of steelhead smolt
from the East Fork was estimated at 6,976 fish while the average for Big Bear Creek was 9,491. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game
began a series of seven projects in 2009 in order to conserve fish habitat in the Potlatch.
and ranching. 78% of the land is privately owned while 14% lie within national forest
s. 7% is owned by the state, while the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs each have a 1% share.
is also good in the Potlatch River and many of its tributaries. Anglers are only permitted to catch brook trout, cutthroat trout
, and rainbow and steelhead trout. The Department of Fish and Game annually stocks fish in the river. Fishing is permitted on the Potlatch from its mouth upstream to where Moose Creek joins the river near Bovill
, as well as on the East Fork.
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. About 56 miles (90.1 km) long, it is the lowermost major tributary to the Clearwater River
Clearwater River (Idaho)
The Clearwater River is a river in north central Idaho, which flows westward from the Bitterroot Mountains along the Idaho-Montana border, and joins the Snake River at Lewiston. In October 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition descended the Clearwater River in dugout canoes, putting in at "Canoe...
, a tributary of the Snake River
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
that is in turn a tributary of the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
. Once surrounded by arid grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
s of the Columbia Plateau
Columbia Plateau
The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Columbia River...
adjacent to the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, the Potlatch today is used mainly for agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
purposes.
Its name derives from potlatch
Potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...
, a type of ceremony held by the indigenous people
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
of the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
; one such tribe lived along the river for hundreds of years before the arrival of whites. Pioneers settled the watershed and established farms and ranches in the late 19th century. After that, logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
eliminated most of the forests within the watershed and the ecology of the river is still in the process of recovery. Fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
and camping
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
are popular recreational activities on the river; 14 percent the watershed lies on public lands. Before logging and agriculture, many varieties of riparian and forest plants once populated the catchment, and several species of fish still swim the river and its tributaries.
Course and drainage
The Hoodoo MountainsHoodoo Mountains
The Hoodoo Mountains are a mountain range in Latah County, Idaho, United States, located at latitude: 47.03306, longitude -116.48583. They are the source of the Potlatch River.-References:*...
are the source of the Potlatch River. The Potlatch's course traces a southwesterly line across the eastern Columbia Plateau in the arid Rocky Mountain foothills. Two forks form the river's headwaters in the southern part of the Idaho Panhandle
Idaho Panhandle
The Idaho Panhandle is the northern region of the U.S. State of Idaho that encompasses the ten northernmost counties of Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, Shoshone. Residents of the panhandle refer to the region as North Idaho...
. The West Fork drains part of Latah County
Latah County, Idaho
Latah County is a county located in the north central region of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 37,244 at the 2010 census. The county seat and largest city is Moscow, which is the home of the University of Idaho, the state's flagship and land-grant university...
and the East Fork is in Clearwater County
Clearwater County, Idaho
Clearwater County is a county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. Established in 1911, the county was named after the Clearwater River. As of the 2000 Census the county had a population of 8,930 . The county seat is Orofino....
. These two forks combine near Helmer, and soon the river descends into a canyon that continues all the way to the mouth. While in the canyon, it receives Pine, Big Bear, Middle Potlatch and Little Potlatch Creeks from the north, and Boulder and Cedar Creeks from the south. Idaho State Highway 3
Idaho State Highway 3
Idaho State Highway 3 is a state highway in northern Idaho connecting US 12 near Spalding with I-90 near Rose Lake. It is long and runs north–south.-Route description:...
follows part of the lower canyon, and the town of Juliaetta
Juliaetta, Idaho
Juliaetta is a city in Latah County, Idaho, United States. The population was 609 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Juliaetta is located at and lies approximately 2 miles north of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation...
is located at the Middle Potlatch Creek confluence. The river merges with the Clearwater at the elevation of 801 feet (244.1 m) between the towns of Myrtle and Spalding
Spalding, Idaho
Spalding is an unincorporated village in Nez Percé County, Idaho, United States, ten miles east of Lewiston, on the Clearwater River close to the intersection of U.S. Routes 95 and 12...
. Its average discharge
Discharge (hydrology)
In hydrology, discharge is the volume rate of water flow, including any suspended solids , dissolved chemical species and/or biologic material , which is transported through a given cross-sectional area...
at the mouth, according to a USGS stream gauge, is 379.8 cuft/s. A peak flow of 8150 cuft/s was recorded there in 2006. The river reaches its highest peaks in the winter and early spring, while it reduces to a trickle by summer and autumn. The river mainly flows over and through coarse Columbia River basalts that comprise the Columbia Plateau, similar in geology to the Palouse River
Palouse River
The Palouse River is a tributary of the Snake River located in the U.S. states of Washington and Idaho. It flows for southwestwards, primarily through the Palouse region of southeastern Washington...
farther west.
History
Native Americans of the Nez Perce tribe have lived along the Potlatch River for hundreds of years. The Potlatch River area was once a broad sweep of dry grasslandGrassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
bordered by forested mountains, on the eastern edge of the arid Columbia Plateau. Because of its location just southwest of the foothills of the Rockies, the Potlatch River receives much more rainfall than watersheds just to the west, such as the Palouse and Tucannon River
Tucannon River
The Tucannon River is a river in southeastern Washington state that flows from headwaters in the Blue Mountains to a confluence with the Snake River upstream from Lyons Ferry Park and the mouth of the Palouse River. The Tucannon itself drains and is long...
s. In 1805 and again in 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
passed the mouth of the Potlatch River while traveling down the Clearwater River. They referred to it as "a large creek" and named it Colter's Creek, in honor of John Colter
John Colter
John Colter was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition . Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for explorations he made during the winter of 1807–1808, when Colter became the first known person of European descent to enter the region now known...
, a member of the expedition. It is not known if they were the first whites to see the river. The modern name of the river was adopted in 1897.
The native environment stayed relatively intact until settlers began to arrive in western Idaho in great numbers in the 1870s, and miners also were attracted by a gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
strike at nearby Orofino
Orofino, Idaho
Orofino is a city in Clearwater County, Idaho, along Orofino Creek and the north bank of the Clearwater River. The population was 3,247 at the 2000 census, and the city is the county seat of Clearwater County...
, on the banks of the Clearwater River. Many of these emigrants set up dryland farms and ranches in the prairies surrounding the Potlatch River. Soil conditions generally improve as one travels southwards through the watershed, but there was a major drawback to growing crops in the southern part of the basin: the inaccessibility of water. Already scarce in the arid Potlatch River drainage, the river's water was hard to reach because of the steep canyon it passes through in most of its lower course. Farmers were restricted to growing crops that did not require irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, and many of the lands that did not have access to abundant-enough water were relegated to pasture or hay
Hay
Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...
producing status.
At first, the forests of the watershed were not significantly affected, but after logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
operations sprung up near the turn of the century, most of the virgin timber in the watershed was cleared. The first sawmills were built to provide lumber for local uses, such as building houses and barns. Soon, however, the Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway extended its tracks into the area, allowing lumber to be exported out of the basin. Logging turned out to be a very profitable industry but had a lasting negative effect on the ecology of the Potlatch River watershed.
Splash dam
Splash dam
A splash dam was a temporary wooden dam used to raise the water level in streams to float logs downstream to sawmills. By impounding water and allowing it to be released on the log drive's schedule, these dams allowed many more logs to be brought to market than the natural flow of the creek allowed...
s, greased chutes, railroad landings, railroad branch lines and steam donkey
Steam donkey
Steam donkey, or donkey engine is the common nickname for a steam-powered winch, or logging engine widely used in past logging operations, though not limited to logging...
operations were among the strategies utilized to exploit the watershed's resources of timber. Unfortunately, railroad embankments and fills used to build up tributaries had artificially straightened them in the process, and erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
increased dramatically on the barren hillside, causing many streams to become much siltier than they naturally would be. Nearly all the old-growth forest in the watershed is now gone, and the forests that remain are mostly second-growth stands.
Ecology
At one time the river's watershed was dominated by grassland mostly consisting of Idaho fescue and bluebunch wheatgrassBluebunch wheatgrass
Pseudoroegneria spicata is a species of grass known by the common name Bluebunch Wheatgrass. This native western North American perennial bunchgrass is known by the scientific synonyms Elymus spicatus and Agropyron spicatum. The grass can be found from Alaska to Texas. It occurs in many types of...
. Cottonwoods, quaking aspen, maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
, and alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
formed the riparian zone
Riparian zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the fifteen terrestrial biomes of the earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by...
along the Potlatch River. In the foothills
Foothills
Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills to the adjacent topographically high mountains.-Examples:...
, a meadow steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
environment abounding with black hawthorn, snowberry and small conifers flourished, while along the banks of smaller tributaries, hawthorn
Crataegus
Crataegus , commonly called hawthorn or thornapple, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name hawthorn was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe,...
and mock orange
Mock Orange
Mock Orange typically means Philadelphus, a mostly Holarctic genus of shrubs. It can also refer to:* Bursaria spinosa , a small tree from Australia...
grew. Camas
Camassia
Camassia is a genus of six species native to western North America, from southern British Columbia to northern California, and east to Utah, Wyoming and Montana...
and forb
Forb
A forb is a herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid . The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory.-Etymology:...
s thrived in the thinly distributed seasonal wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s along the river and its larger tributary creeks. The forests were mainly a mix of Douglas fir and ponderosa pine
Ponderosa Pine
Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...
, interspersed with rare stands of grand fir
Grand Fir
Abies grandis is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea level to 1,800 m...
, western redcedar, western white pine
Western White Pine
Western White Pine, Pinus monticola in the family Pinaceae, is a species of pine that occurs in the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Coast Range, and the northern Rocky Mountains. The tree extends down to sea level in many...
, and larch
Larch
Larches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. Growing from 15 to 50m tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains further south...
, and an understory of oceanspray, ninebark, serviceberry
Serviceberry
Amelanchier , also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry, wild pear, juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum or wild-plum, and chuckley pear is a genus of about 20 species of deciduous-leaved shrubs and small trees in the Rose family .Amelanchier is native to temperate regions...
, wild rose
Wild Rose
Wild Rose is the name given to certain flowering shrubs:*Genus Rosa:** Rosa acicularis, or Wild Rose, a rose species which occurs in Asia, Europe, and North America...
and snowberry. Wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
s burned through the watershed from time to time, clearing the way for new growth. After human intervention, these vegetation communities continued to persist, but in lesser numbers, and the grasslands have mostly been wiped out by farming. The average annual precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
ranges from 15 to 50 in (381 to 1,270 mm) per year, and annual variations in temperature are around 25 to 100 °F (-3.9 to 37.8 C).
According to a study from 2003–2004, there were 13 different species of fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
in the Potlatch River watershed, including speckled dace
Speckled dace
The speckled dace , also known as the spotted dace and the carpita pinta, is a member of the carp family. It is found in temperate freshwater in North America, from Sonora to British Columbia....
, longnose dace
Longnose dace
The longnose dace is found in muddy and warm, clear and cold, streams and lakes. The largest longnose dace are about 6 inches long. They are well-adapted for living on the bottom of fast-flowing streams among the stones. Longnose dace eat mostly immature aquatic insects. They are important...
, rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
(both wild and farm-raised), brook trout
Brook trout
The brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, is a species of fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it is known as the speckled trout or squaretail. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior are known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters...
, largemouth bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
, pumpkinseed
Pumpkinseed
The pumpkinseed sunfish is a freshwater fish of the sunfish family of order Perciformes. It is also referred to as "pond perch", "common sunfish", "punkys", and "sunny".-Range and distribution:...
, northern pikeminnow, redside shiner, sculpin
Sculpin
A Sculpin is a fish that belongs to the order Scorpaeniformes, suborder Cottoidei and superfamily Cottoidea, that contains 11 families, 149 genera, and 756 species...
, bridgelip sucker
Bridgelip Sucker
Bridgelip Sucker is a fish in the family Catostomidae....
, largescale sucker
Largescale sucker
The Largescale sucker is a species of sucker found in western North America....
, and yellow perch
Yellow perch
The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...
. Migration of steelhead, the anadromous phase of rainbow trout, has mostly been eliminated because of the construction of dams downstream on the Snake
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
and Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
s. The two species of dace were cumulatively the largest individual fish population in the watershed, while steelhead accounted for 58.4% of the biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
. Of all the streams sampled during the study, the West Fork Potlatch River had the highest diversity because of its relatively pristine condition. The lower section of the river suffers from chronic pollution caused by agricultural runoff. From 2005 to 2008, the population of steelhead (rainbow) trout in the watershed was recorded by the Potlatch River Steelhead Monitoring and Evaluation Program (PRSME). There was no data for steelhead populations in the main stem but 197 adult steelhead were recorded in the East Fork of the river, while an average of 226 was recorded annually in one of the river's larger tributaries, Big Bear Creek. Outmigration of steelhead smolt
Spawn (biology)
Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...
from the East Fork was estimated at 6,976 fish while the average for Big Bear Creek was 9,491. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game
Idaho Department of Fish and Game
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is the Idaho state department which is responsible for preserving and managing Idaho’s wildlife, including mammals, fish, birds, and invertebrates....
began a series of seven projects in 2009 in order to conserve fish habitat in the Potlatch.
Land use
Forests cover about 57% of the Potlatch River watershed, while about 38% is used for agricultureAgriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and ranching. 78% of the land is privately owned while 14% lie within national forest
United States National Forest
National Forest is a classification of federal lands in the United States.National Forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned by the federal government and managed by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. Land management of these areas...
s. 7% is owned by the state, while the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs each have a 1% share.
Recreation
Many of the mountainous and forested sections of the drainage basin lie protected under national forest lands. There are several campgrounds overseen by the U.S. Forest Service in the headwaters of the Potlatch River watershed. FishingFishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
is also good in the Potlatch River and many of its tributaries. Anglers are only permitted to catch brook trout, cutthroat trout
Cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is one of the many fish species colloquially known as trout...
, and rainbow and steelhead trout. The Department of Fish and Game annually stocks fish in the river. Fishing is permitted on the Potlatch from its mouth upstream to where Moose Creek joins the river near Bovill
Bovill, Idaho
Bovill is a city in Latah County, Idaho, United States. The population was 305 at the 2000 census.-History:Bovill was named for a settler.The Bovill Opera House, at 2nd and Pine, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.-Geography:...
, as well as on the East Fork.
See also
- List of rivers of Idaho
- List of tributaries of the Columbia River