1 / 11

Temporary Restoration of Bull Trout Passage at Albeni Falls Dam

Temporary Restoration of Bull Trout Passage at Albeni Falls Dam. Kalispel Tribe of Indians Project # 2007-246-00 Jason Olson. Map of Study Area and Project Goals. Provide temporary upstream passage Investigate a long term fish passage solution

gaston
Download Presentation

Temporary Restoration of Bull Trout Passage at Albeni Falls Dam

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Temporary Restoration of Bull Trout Passage at Albeni Falls Dam Kalispel Tribe of Indians Project # 2007-246-00 Jason Olson

  2. Map of Study Area and Project Goals • Provide temporary upstream passage • Investigate a long term fish passage solution • Address data gaps associated with Albeni Falls Dam and bull trout • Create a westslope cutthroat trout genetic catalog allowing for the future passage of cutthroat trout at Albeni Falls Dam

  3. History • 2000 Biological Opinion • 2004 Feasibility Study for up/downstream passage required • 2008 Action agencies to seek appropriation for construction of fish passage facility • FERC licenses require fish passage at dams located upstream and downstream of Albeni Falls • Permanent upstream passage structure at Thompson Falls Dam. • Removal of Milltown Dam.

  4. Importance to the Region • Project is related to all fish passage prescription on mainstem Pend Oreille/Clark Fork Dams from western Montana to the Canadian Border. • Allows bull trout that would have been lost from local populations to return to natal tributaries and contribute to overall recovery goals. • All telemetry equipment is compatible throughout the basin to provide additional data for all entities working towards bull trout recovery. • Box Canyon and Boundary dams are using this study as a model as they begin investigating fishway prescription.

  5. Entities Involved and Related Projects Entities Related Projects East River Juvenile Out Migration Study Bull Trout Telemetry below Albeni Falls Dam Westslope Cutthroat Trout Telemetry Studies (2) Lake Pend Oreille Lake Trout Removal Project Pend Oreille Nonnative Fish Suppression Project • KNRD • WDFW • IDFG • USFWS • USFS • SCA • US Army Corps • BPA • SCL • PO PUD • PNNL • EWU

  6. Accomplishments • Handled a total of 35 bull trout • Tagged 26 bull trout • 15 bull trout transported above Albeni Falls Dam • In 2010, tagged and monitored the movements of 14 westslope cutthroat trout below Albeni Falls Dam

  7. Accomplishments Cont. • Over half of the bull trout captured below Albeni Falls Dam to date were from depressed Lake Pend Oreille tributaries. • Identified areas of cold water refuge below Albeni Falls Dam • Identified potential upstream fish passage entrance locations • Began understanding the magnitude of entrainment

  8. Results 53% of all bull trout captured below Albeni Falls Dam have been genetically assigned to depressed spawning tributaries.

  9. Results Cont. • Genetic assignments are accurate to primary and secondary streams of origin (67%). • Once transported above Albeni Falls Dam bull trout waste little time getting back to the lake. • Radio tagged fish have been observed spawning • Hybridization may be a larger issue than once thought (11%).

  10. Lessons Learned • Entrainment at Albeni Falls Dam is a much larger issue than anticipated • High number of westslope cutthroat trout appearing below Albeni Falls Dam in the early spring before freshet. • Highest efficiency of bull trout captures are on the ascending and descending arms of the hydrograph. • Difference in life histories between bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout (movement, water temperature).

  11. Conclusion • Bull trout that are transported above Albeni Falls Dam are contributing gene flow to depressed Lake Pend Oreille tributaries. • Genetic assignments of bull trout are accurate to the primary and secondary natal tributaries. • Critical data gaps have been and continue to be filled for bull trout passage throughout the mainstem Pend Oreille/Clark Fork Recovery Units.

More Related