Empirical and model‐based evaluation of a step‐pool stream restoration project: Consequences for a highly valued fish population

ObjectiveWe sought to measure a step‐pool restoration project's effects on a steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss population and explore the capability of process‐based modeling to enhance understanding of the results.MethodsWe used before‐after–control‐impact monitoring in combination with a process‐based, individual‐based, spatially explicit fish population model to evaluate a stream restoration project that reconfigured the channel and primarily added step pools to a reach of a second‐order stream in northwestern California.ResultFive years of monitoring both before (2012–2016) and after (2018–2022) restoration indicated that restoration caused substantial increases in the abundance and biomass of steelhead. Individual growth rates and retention of fish in the study reach did not exhibit consistent patterns, even in the first 2 years after restoration, when fish abundance and biomass exhibited extreme increases of about fivefold. Model simulations predicted about a twofold increase in the abundance and biomass of steelhead in the restoration reach, which corresponded with the empirical results 4–5 years after restoration. The model also predicted a similar increase in the production of steelhead out‐migrants, a response we did not attempt to measure in the field.ConclusionStep‐pool restoration benefitted steelhead. The model's correspondence with empirical observations indicates its potential applicability to more complex resource management questions in the study area, such as how restoration will combine with changes in climate to affect the sustainability of salmonid populations.