Response for project 199801004: M&E Snake R. Fall Ch Spawning
Comment on proposed FY 2006 budget
The proposed budget of $307,176 is adequate to accomplish project goals for 2006. The budget is consistent with Bonneville's approved budget and, depending on cost increases for 2006, should be adequate to continue monitoring efforts at the current level. However, if 2006 cost increases are greater than anticipated, especially for personnel (health benefit costs), indirect rate and transportation (increased fuel costs, including helicopter charter), tagging effort may be reduced.
Accomplishments since the last review
| Coordination | Attended semiannual fall Chinook salmon technical coordination meetings, annual Lyons Ferry Hatchery Annual Operating Plan meetings, monthly NPT Research Division coordination conference calls and other pertinent coordination meetings. | |
| Manage and Administer Projects | Work with NPT Human Resource and Finance Departments as required. Work with BPA and COTR as required. Prepare annual subcontract for helicopter flights, 2003-2004. Prepare and submit SOW and budget to BPA. | |
| Provide Technical Review | Participated in reviewing and preparing Snake River fall Chinook M&E plan. | |
| Produce Annual Report | 2002-2004 annual reports are in draft with final versions submitted to BPA before June 30, 2005. 2005 annual report will be completed and submitted to BPA before March 31, 2006. | |
| Produce Annual Report | Co-authored two annual reports produced by project 1998-010-03 titled "Fall Chinook Salmon Spawning Ground Surveys in the Snake River Basin upriver of Lower Granite Dam" covering the years 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. | |
| Produce Annual Report | Authored annual report titled "Monitoring and Evaluation of Yearling Fall Chinook Salmon Released from Acclimation Facilities Upstream of Lower Granite Dam" for 1998. | |
| Produce Status Report | Submit quarterly status reports to BPA | |
| Produce/Submit Scientific Findings Report | Co-authored "Movement and Spawner Distribution of Hatchery Fall Chinook Salmon Adults Acclimated and Released as Yearlings at ThreeLocations in the Snake River Basin" which was published in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management 24:1134–1144 | |
| Collect/Generate/Validate Field and Lab Data | Annually collect length and weight data on yearling and subyearling fall Chinook at the FCAP facilities and LFH. | |
| Collect/Generate/Validate Field and Lab Data | Annually collect PIT tag codes and associated tagging session data for yearling and subyearling release groups at the FCAP facilities. | |
| Collect/Generate/Validate Field and Lab Data | Annually collect CWT and adipose fin clip retention data for each FCAP release group of yearling and subyearling fall Chinook. | |
| Collect/Generate/Validate Field and Lab Data | 2003-2004, Conduct weekly spawning ground surveys on the Grande Ronde and Imnaha Rivers, conduct weekly spawning ground surveys on the Salmon River. | |
| Mark/Tag Animals | Annually PIT tagged 15,000-17,500 yearling and 7,500-17,500 subyearling fall Chinook from the FCAP facilities | |
| Submit/Acquire Data | Annually upload all PIT tag files for FCAP yearling and subyearling release groups to the PTAGIS database.Annually download PIT tag data for all yearling and subyearling release groups from the PTAGIS database. | |
| Submit/Acquire Data | Annually download flow and temperature data from the USGS for the Snake and Clearwater rivers upstream of the confluence. | |
| Submit/Acquire Data | Annually download flow and spill data at Lower Granite Dam.and McNary dams from the USACE. | |
| Disseminate Raw & Summary Data | Summarized annual results from BKD sampling of yearling and subyearling fall Chinook at the FCAP facilities and LFH. | |
| Disseminate Raw & Summary Data | Annually prepare and disseminate FCAP release data summary report. | |
| Disseminate Raw & Summary Data | Prepared and disseminated weekly redd count update reports and end of season summaries, 2003-2004. | |
| Analyze/Interpret Data | Annually estimate survival to Lower Granite and McNary dams. Annually analyze travel times, migration rates and arrival timing to all main interrogation sites. Annually correlate migration rate to flow. | |
| Analyze/Interpret Data | Annually analyze length, weight and condition factor data for all FCAP yearling and subyearling release groups |
Being a monitoring and evaluation project, our year-to-year activities are very similar. As such, most all accomplishments listed are completed on an annual basis. Our past accomplishments include annually quantifying primary performance measures for yearling and subyearling fall Chinook salmon released from 3 Fall Chinook Acclimation Project (FCAP) facilities upstream of Lower Granite Dam. These performance measures include hatchery-reared juvenile production, post-release survival, migration rate, travel time and arrival timing to Lower Snake and Columbia river dams. We correlate migration rate with flow and temperature in the Snake, Clearwater and Columbia Rivers. We quantify juvenile size at release and monitor pre-release health indices. We conduct annual redd counts to index adult abundance and distribution in the Grande Ronde, Imnaha and Salmon rivers. We work in close coordination with the WDFW to conduct annual QC/QA sampling for tag/mark retention on all yearling and subyearling fall Chinook salmon release groups, which is critical to quantifying the primary performance measures of adult abundance and SARs at Lower Granite Dam. This project played a major role in the development of the comprehensive Snake River Fall Chinook Salmon Marking Plan, which was completed in May 2004 through the US v Oregon process.
FY 2006 goals and anticipated accomplishments
| Coordination | Attend semiannual fall Chinook salmon technical coordination meetings, annual Lyons Ferry Hatchery Annual Operating Plan meetings, monthly NPT Research Division coordination conference calls and other pertinent coordination meetings. | |
| Manage and Administer Projects | Work with NPT Human Resource and Finance Departments as required. Work with BPA and COTR as required. Prepare annual subcontract for helicopter flights. Prepare and submit SOW and budget to BPA. | |
| Provide Technical Review | Participate in reviewing and preparing Snake River fall Chinook M&E plan. | |
| Produce Annual Report | Complete 2005 annual report and submit to BPA by March 31, 2006. | |
| Produce Status Report | Submit quarterly status reports to BPA and superiors. | |
| Collect/Generate/Validate Field and Lab Data | Collect length and weight data on yearling and subyearling fall Chinook at the FCAP facilities and LFH. | |
| Collect/Generate/Validate Field and Lab Data | Collect PIT tag codes and associated tagging session data for yearling and subyearling release groups at the FCAP facilities. | |
| Collect/Generate/Validate Field and Lab Data | Collect CWT and adipose fin clip retention data for each FCAP release group of yearling and subyearling fall Chinook. | |
| Collect/Generate/Validate Field and Lab Data | Conduct weekly spawning ground surveys on the Grande Ronde and Imnaha Rivers, conduct weekly spawning ground surveys on the Salmon River. | |
| Mark/Tag Animals | PIT tag 15,000 yearling 12,500 subyearling fall Chinook from the FCAP facilities. | |
| Submit/Acquire Data | Upload all PIT tag files for FCAP yearling and subyearling release groups to the PTAGIS database. Download PIT tagging and interrogation data for all yearling and subyearling release groups from the PTAGIS database. | |
| Submit/Acquire Data | Download flow and temperature data from the USGS for the Snake and Clearwater rivers upstream of the confluence. | |
| Submit/Acquire Data | Annually download flow and spill data at Lower Granite Dam. and McNary dams from the USACE. | |
| Disseminate Raw & Summary Data | Prepare and disseminate FCAP release data summary report. | |
| Disseminate Raw & Summary Data | Summarize annual results from BKD sampling of yearling and subyearling fall Chinook at the FCAP facilities and LFH. | |
| Disseminate Raw & Summary Data | Prepare and disseminate weekly redd count update reports and end of season summary. | |
| Analyze/Interpret Data | Estimate survival to Lower Granite and McNary dams. Analyze travel times, migration rates and arrival timing to all main interrogation sites. Correlate migration rate to flow. | |
| Analyze/Interpret Data | Analyze length, weight and condition factor data for all FCAP yearling and subyearling release groups |
Being a monitoring and evaluation project, our year-to-year activities are very similar. As such, the goals listed for 2006 are completed on an annual basis. Our goals for 2006 include quantifying primary performance measures for yearling and subyearling fall Chinook salmon released from 3 acclimation facilities upstream of Lower Granite Dam. These performance measures include hatchery-reared juvenile production, post-release survival, migration rate, travel time and arrival timing to Lower Snake and Columbia river dams. We will correlate migration rate with flow and temperature in the Snake, Clearwater and Columbia Rivers. We will quantify juvenile size at release and monitor pre-release health indices. We will conduct annual redd counts to index adult abundance and distribution in the Grande Ronde, Imnaha and Salmon rivers. This work is highly cooperative and closely coordinated with another NPT project conducting redd counts in the Clearwater subbasin and the USFWS and IPC in the Snake River up to Hell's Canyon Dam. We will work in close coordination with the WDFW to conduct annual QC/QA sampling for tag/mark retention on all yearling and subyearling fall Chinook salmon release groups, which is critical to quantifying the primary performance measures of adult abundance and SARs at Lower Granite Dam.
Subbasin planning
How is this project consistent with subbasin plans?
This project is consistent with and implements Strategies 2A2, 2A3, 2A4, 2A7, 2A8 and 2A9 of the Snake Hell's Canyon Management Plan. These strategies relate to Objective 2A (page 18) and Section 6.4 RM&E (pages 59 and 63). Objective 2A is to increase SARs of naturally produced spawning fall chinook adults to at least 3% as measured at Lower Granite Dam, to increase natural production and harvest of fish populations. This project is designed to work in tandem with the Fall Chinook Acclimation Project (FCAP) to increase natural spawning. The Assessment identified the FCRPS as a key limiting factor for Snake River fall chinook (page 193). This project assesses survival of yearling and subyearling fall Chinook through the FCRPS as well as participating in regional marking coordination and activities (through US v Oregon) that allow for run reconstruction to determine adult abundance, composition and SARs of fall Chinook at Lower Granite Dam. The project study area is covered by several subbasin plans: Snake Hell's Canyon, Snake Lower, Clearwater, Grande Ronde, Imnaha and Salmon. The principles with how this project is consistent with the Snake Hell's Canyon Subbasin Plan as described above are applicable to all of these subbasin plans.
How do goals match subbasin plan priorities?
The project accomplishes priority work under the subbasin plan, because the Prioritization Framework in the Snake Hell's Canyon Management Plan puts strategies that benefit ESA listed species and projects that benefit fish and wildlife as a high priority (page 85). Snake River fall Chinook are an ESA listed species. The FCAP project is specifically designed to increase abundance of naturally spawning populations of fall Chinook salmon in the Snake Hell's Canyon and Clearwater subbasins. This project is an integral part of monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the FCAP project by providing information which evaluates FCAP project effectiveness and allows for adaptive management. In addition, this project studies hydrosystem passage in relation to flow and temperature, which are three factors that the Assessment (page 202) and Supplement (page 8) rate as having the highest influence on juvenile fall Chinook. There is little specific prioritization in the subbasin plan for RM&E projects such as this one. However, the Supplement explicitly describes (page 17) how RM&E projects directly match the subbasin plan priorities: "These prioritized strategies often require simultaneous implementation of a suite of other strategies, such as planning or monitoring and evaluation strategies as described in the Management Plan. Research, monitoring and evaluation strategies are examples of strategies that need to be implemented before, during and after implementation strategies to guide success, increase efficiency and to learn from implementation activities. In general, these types of strategies were not prioritized because their value is dependent upon the actual implementation of restoration or protection strategies. In the Management Plan, these strategies are generally included as part of a suite of strategies, including implementation strategies, and many of them would have little value as stand alone activities."