Hobble Creek Delta Restoration 15 Years Later: Larvae, Leaves, and Lessons Learned
Melissa Stamp1*, Keith Lawrence2*, David Lee2, Josee Seamons2, Sarah Seegert3
1Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; mstamp@usbr.gov
2Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Springville, UT, USA; klawrence@utah.gov; davidlee@utah.gov; jseamons@utah.gov
3Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; sseegert@utah.gov
 
In 2008, the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program restored the delta of Hobble Creek, a tributary to Utah Lake. The goal of the restoration was to re-establish a spawning run and promote recruitment of June sucker, a federally-listed threatened fish species endemic to Utah Lake. This presentation describes how the restored habitat has changed and evolved since initial project construction; shares data and insights on June sucker adult, juvenile, and larval use of the habitat; and explores the challenges associated with vegetation management and stewardship of the site.
Prior to restoration, Hobble Creek was channelized, leveed, disconnected from the lake and inaccessible to spawning June sucker. The restoration project converted a 21-acre field into a complex delta habitat with sinuous river channels, floodplain wetlands and ponds, and an open connection to the Provo Bay area of Utah Lake. Adult June sucker swam up the restored stream channel to spawn the first year after construction and monitoring has documented spawning runs each year since. Periodic monitoring has consistently documented larval production at the site as well. However, finding juvenile fish and documenting successful recruitment has proven more challenging. Other challenges include managing invasive weeds and non-native fish and evaluating whether processes like vegetation encroachment and beaver activity threaten habitat quality and connectivity. Fluctuating lake level also presents challenges to maintaining the restoration site and providing access for spawning June sucker. Lessons learned from Hobble Creek are particularly important as the Recovery Program moves into its third year of construction of the 260-acre Provo River Delta Restoration Project, a similar but much larger scale June sucker restoration effort.