Wind River Watershed Project Monitoring Wild Steelhead Response to Restoration

1. Wind River Watershed ProjectMonitoring Wild Steelhead Response to Restoration

2. Outline Project Purpose Background & Project History Reporting and Management Applications Proposal for FY 2011-13 Continued adult VSP, juvenile abundance, survival and life history monitoring Monitoring various steelhead response to Hemlock Dam Removal Continued Habitat Restoration Initiation of habitat status and trend monitoring as a partner in the Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program (CHaMP)

3. Project Purpose Continue habitat restoration to improve steelhead and salmon viability and watershed health. Modified adult and smolt status and trends (VSP) monitoring to include the evaluation of various steelhead abundance, survival, and life history responses to Hemlock Dam removal. Incorporated a standardized habitat status and trend monitoring program called Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program (CHaMP) under Integrated Status and Trend Monitoring Program (ISEMP) to supplement fish monitoring.

5. Adult Monitoring Shipherd Falls (Wind population) using mark-recapture (MR) (CV<10%). Trout Cr. abundance using ladder count (census) through 2009, and 3 PIT tag arrays mark-resight since 2010 MR estimates are believed to be unbiased due to assumption testing of tagging affects, closure, and equal catchability Replication of adult abundance, race determinations, and age using different methods and combination of results through MLE or Bayesian approaches Adult MR - 3 different methods (Trout, Winter, Jumper) Winter/summer steelhead race differentiation using physical characters & mixture models based on PIT tags Age analysis based on PIT, Floy, and CWT tags & scales PIT tagging of adults since 2008 for adult population estimates in Trout Cr

8. Comparison of PIT Tag Detection with Escapement in Trout Creek Preliminary Does not account for steelhead that passed the dam but spawned below the PTIS Need to calculate the detection probability based on 3 arrays

9. Juvenile Monitoring Pit tag parr and smolts to estimate trap efficiency for smolt population estimate, parr to smolt survival, and identify various juvenile life history patterns Smolt estimates (CV<10%) and index of parr estimates for entire Wind and key subwatersheds (Trout, Panther, Upper Wind) using Darroch Estimator Comparison of recapture rates of PIT smolt vs. other marks (Panjet) and tags (CWT) Replication of Lower Wind smolt estimate using mark releases from different traps and �back calculation� in which adult tagged to untagged ratios are used to determine proportion marked.

11. Selected Steelhead Smolt Monitoring Results

12. Habitat Accomplishments Hemlock Dam Removal LWD placement in Trout Creek and Upper Wind Trout Creek side channel reconnectivity Riparian thinning & planting Culvert replacement & road decommissioning Bank stabilization Habitat Monitoring � fish habitat surveys, thermographs, and stream discharge Habitat Assessments � 2 USFS Watershed Analysis, EDT & Conservation Commission limiting factors analysis, and DOE Temperature TMDL

14. Reporting & Management Application Annual reports since funding in 1998 Provided raw data to PTAGIS, StreamNet, and various WDFW adult and juvenile databases Status and Trend Reports (WDFW Salmonid Stock Inventory SaSI) & NOAA Status Reviews High Level Indictor Reports (State of the Resource, State of the Salmon) Update runs size at Shipherd for inseason sport fish management adjustments Establish wild steelhead escapement goals based on empirical data

16. Proposal for 2011-13Evaluation of Steelhead Response to Hemlock Dam Removal in Trout Creek Considered 12 testable hypothesis for Before-After (BA) and Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) designs Testable hypothesis require: 1) continued adult PIT tagging at Shipherd Falls and operation of the Trout Creek PIT tag detection site to estimate abundance, and 2) continued PIT tagging and smolt trapping at Trout Creek and Panther and or Upper Wind sites, 3) additional PIT tag interrogation systems (PTIS) Already discussed VSP & juvenile monitoringAlready discussed VSP & juvenile monitoring

17. Ho: There is no change in the mean difference in smolt production between impact site(Trout Creek) and the control site (possibly Upper Wind) before and after dam removal using a BACI design. The mean difference between the two sites was 43 smolts for the 8 year period, and the standard deviation of the difference was equal to 394 smolts. A net increase in smolt production of at least 431 smolts in 8 years (24%) from Trout Creek would yield significant results using a t-test, assuming a significance level = 0.10, and power = 0.80.

18. Ho: There is no change in productivity and/or capacity estimate from spawner-recruit analysis before and after dam removal using a BA design by comparison of confidence intervals. Bradford, M.J., J. Korman, and P.S. Higgins. 2005. Using confidence intervals to estimate the response if salmon populations (Oncorhynchus spp.) to experimental habitat alterations. CJFAS 62:2716-2762 Choice of models & alpha values influences detectable differences SRR analysis suggests change of 50% in Trout Creek over a 12 year period would lead to detectable success with HS model but only partial success with BH model with alpha = 0.20.

19. Ho: There is no change in the mean difference in the parr to smolt ratio between impact site (Trout Creek) and the control site (possibly Upper Wind) before and after dam removal using a BACI design. Rationale - Low adult escapement levels may produce fewer parr and at lower densities fewer parr migrate downstream. Downstream migrants are the source of production from the Wind River Canyon

21. Other Steps Continue VSP, juvenile, and survival monitoring, & PIT tagging to support other mainstem Columbia River research Implement standardized habitat status and trend monitoring (CHaMP), and continue temperature & stream discharge monitoring Work with restoration partners to examine the possibilities of sequencing future restoration to evaluate steelhead response to traditional restoration or nutrient enhancement (BACI designs). Evaluation of habitat restoration will be cost-effective because the monitoring infrastructure will be in place for these types of powerful evaluations Additional funding will allow peer-reviewed publications