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Case Study: Idaho Naturally Produced Chinook with Focus on Middle Fork Salmon River. Sharon W. Kiefer Idaho Dept. Fish and Game October, 2012. Middle Fork Salmon River Attributes: ►Free-flowing river with many tributaries, flows about 104 miles, ►A tributary to the Salmon River,
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Case Study: Idaho Naturally Produced Chinook with Focus on Middle Fork Salmon River Sharon W. Kiefer Idaho Dept. Fish and Game October, 2012
Middle Fork Salmon River Attributes: • ►Free-flowing river with many tributaries, flows about 104 miles, • ►A tributary to the Salmon River, • ►One of the original 8 Wild and Scenic Rivers (1968) • ►Elevation ranges 7,000 feet to 3,900 feet • ►Bear Valley and Marsh Creek converge to form the mainstem • ►Located in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness (1980) • - Frank Church Wilderness encompasses a total of 2,366,757 acres • - Second largest unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System • in the Lower 48
Salmon River Sp/Su Chinook MPGs SF Salmon, MF Salmon, Up. Salmon Sp/Su Chinook
WILD Fish: Middle Fork Salmon River Sp/Su Chinook Native, No hatchery history, naturally produced NATURAL Fish: Clearwater Basin Sp/Su Chinook Native or non-native, hatchery history, naturally produced IDFG Adopted MFSR Wild Fish Policy 1985
▪3 Smolt Traps: Marsh, Bear Valley, Big creeks ▪Video Adult Weir: Bear Valley Creek ▪Pit Tag Array: Big Creek ▪Redd Counts and Carcass Recovery ▪Juvenile PIT Tagging ▪Genetic Sampling ▪Snorkel Trend Surveys ▪Genetic Stock ID at Lower Granite Dam State, Tribal, Federal Contributors Monitoring Infrastructure
Smolt to Adult Return Comparison of Snake and Mid-Col. Chinook
Augmenting MFSR Redds with Adult Abundance = Genetic Stock Identification (GSI)
SUMMARY • Run-size of W/N & H - correlated • Smolt-to-adult returns (SARs) of W/N & H – similar range & correlated • Mid-Columbia W/N SARs >> Snake W/N SARs • Salmon River redd count trends • Decline since 1950s & 1960s • W and N (hatchery influenced) trends similar since hatchery programs began in 1980s • Middle Fork Salmon comprise large portion of wild – similar trend • Natural origin spawner trends are similar in Wild and Hatchery influenced populations