From: Puckett, Kathryn J

Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:45 AM

To: Spinazola, Joseph M
Subject: FW: court science response
Attachments: Science Discussion - Reclamation Funding.doc

 
 
From: Newsom, Michael A
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009 5:41 PM
To: Puckett, Kathryn J
Subject: court science response
 
 

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Draft
Confidential
For Litigation Support Purposes

Response to the Science Discussion

Habitat

BPA and Reclamation are funding tributary habitat monitoring projects to assess fish
production (numbers and growth) relative to habitat quality.

Reclamation is taking a multi-disciplinary approach to physical and biological

assessments of tributary habitat and tributary rehabilitation projects. Reclamation
employs tributary liaisons who work with local stakeholders to identify potential
rehabilitation projects. Reclamation’s multi-disciplinary teams assess fluvial
geomorphology, hydrology and biology in a comprehensive approach to project
assessment at the reach scale, about 10 linear miles of stream for the larger projects. The
work includes the use of Lidar and other aerial imagery to assess historic and present
channel development and present vegetation cover. Two dimensional flow modeling is
used to describe current hydraulic channel conditions and predict future conditions. The
Reclamation team has developed a set of reach environmental indicators to quantify the
before and after conditions of the projects.

In a large reach of the Methow River, WA, our primary goal is to measure the response
of target fish species (steelhead, Chinook salmon) to an intensive stream restoration
project planned by Reclamation in 2012, called the M2 Reach. Because we wish to
measure the response of highly mobile fish populations, fish sampling will need to extend
beyond the bounds of the restoration project. We have identified reasonable bounds for
initial sampling based on the geomorphic characteristics of the Methow system
(Reclamation, unpublished data) and on recent literature regarding the extent of spatial
relationships for fish species important to the restoration efforts in the Methow
watershed: Chinook (Isaak and Thurow 2006, Neville et al. 2006, McKean et al. 2008),
steelhead (Hendry et al. 2002), and bull trout (Baxter and Hauer 2000, Rieman and
Dunham 2000). Sampling of fish in similar unconstrained reaches upstream and
downstream of the project area, and constrained areas between these reaches, will allow
an assessment of the role of habitat size and connectivity. In recognition of the potential
scale needed to assess the fish response (Fausch et al. 2002, Schick and Lindley 2007,
McKean et al. 2008), the project reach will be surrounded with fish monitoring devices
(e.g., smolt traps, PIT tag interrogation systems) to detect movement in and out of the
project area. We will collaborate with existing fish monitoring efforts within the
Methow. With funding from Douglas County PUD and NMFS, biologists from the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will be simultaneously
conducting smolt trapping, PIT tagging, and detecting PIT tagged fish with PIT tag
interrogation systems in the mainstem Methow and lower Twisp River. We plan to
collaborate with biologists from Yakama Nation, who are planning to conduct nutrient
enhancement studies to test effect on fish production. These activities will benefit data

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collection and result in cost efficiencies for both projects. Over a six year period
Reclamation will spend approximately 2.5 million dollars on the project under an
interagency agreement with the USGS.

As a part of the USGS agreement Reclamation will fund Ph.D. research through Idaho
State University to accomplish the following.

1.) Construction of a partial quantitative food web, (partial food web meaning it includes
only invertebrate and fishes), which will allow us to determine the current state of the
restoration segment. To construct the food web it will be necessary to:

-Quantify the production of the food base in the restoration segment. This will
include (1) estimating invertebrate production in main-channel and off-channel
aquatic habitats, and (2) measuring terrestrial invertebrate availability (either with
pan traps and/or drift samples).
-Quantifying the production of fishes in the restoration segment. Because it is
likely that fish abundance and composition is likely variable throughout the year,
this should probably be estimated seasonally (hopefully this could be done with
the types of data the USGS crew is currently collecting).
-Complete a fish diet analysis of fish species using the restoration segment.This
will supply the data to establish the strength of the link between fish species and
different aquatic invertebrates. This should also probably be done on a seasonal
basis. This data will also help in determining the degree of fish predation.

2) Model the predicted outcome of the planned restoration effort.

-Use the restoration plan to determine how much extra aquatic habitat will be
added by floodplain restoration.
-Predict how much invertebrate production will be available in restored/created
habitats.
-Quantify how much more (if any) fish production would possible with the
addition of the restored/created habitats.

Reclamation is coordinating its Methow studies with BPA’s Integrated Status and Trend
Monitoring Project which is implemented through an agreement with the Northwest
Fisheries Science Center. Reclamation’s work described above will provide a substantial
portion of the status and trend data.

Reclamation is helping develop a hatchery monitoring program at the Winthrop National

Fish Hatchery in the Methow River as a part of the USFWS’s consultation with NOAA
on hatchery operations through the development of Hatchery Genetic Management Plan.
Reclamation and USFWS are working on a joint RME plan which will include PIT-
tagging large groups of hatchery fish and monitoring their use of and movement
downstream through the monitoring reaches described in the USGS and ISU studies
above.

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Reclamation also is funding Ph.D. research on the biogeography and genetics of summer
steelhead in the Methow River. The Reclamation funded studies have also attracted a
BPA-funded study looking at ecological factors affecting reproductive success of wild
and hatchery fish in the Methow River.

Reclamation is a partner in a climate change study proposed by another USGS researcher.

This work will be conducted in the Yakima and Methow River Basins. The USGS
climate change study will develop a decision analysis model that will develop and test
scenarios for the effects of climate change and water demands on fish production based
largely on the work that Reclamation is funding in the M2 Reach of the Methow River.

Interspecific Interactions

Reclamation is studying interspecific interactions in the Methow River (see ISU study
above). Reclamation is also working with USFWS to mark all hatchery fish from
Winthrop National Fish Hatchery, including PIT-tag groups to look at possible hatchery
fish residualism, and intra- and interspecific competition of hatchery fish with non-
hatchery fish. The study design will include release groups to take advantage of an
extensive PIT-tag array and the fish sampling program described above.

Status Monitoring

BPA is funding the ISEMP program to do status and trend monitoring in tributary habitat.
As stated above Reclamation’s interagency agreement with USGS will contribute
significantly to staus and trend monitoring in the Methow River.

Other

Reclamation previously funded a four-year RME project through the Oregon Cooperative
Research Unit and OSU in the S. Fork of the John Day River. The work on fish
productivity and interspecific competition relative to stream temperature provided
essential biological information that was used to plan future studies in the Methow River.

Reclamation also funded a landscape analysis project through the University of

Washington. Now Reclamation is funding a statistical analysis of landscape feature as
they relate to fish production.

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