Columbia River Tidewater Assessment for Recovery Planning

1. Columbia River Tidewater Assessment for Recovery Planning BPA project number 30017 Thomas W. H. Backman Cleveland Steward Steven A. Kolmes

2. TRT Tasks • Identify populations/ESU delisting criteria • Characterize habitat/fish productivity relationships • Identify factors for decline and limiting factors • Identify early actions for recovery • Identify research, monitoring, and evaluation needs • Serve as Science advisors during recovery planning.

3. Willamette and Lower Columbia Recovery Team • Habitat Sub-Team • Dan Shively, chair • Alec Maul • Steven Kolmes • Thomas Backman • Cleveland Steward • Travis Coley

4. Questions To guide Habitat Work • Fish Species Distribution and Occupancy • What are the historical and current distribution? • What anthropogenic features block access to historical habitat? • Where have historic ranges for salmonids been expanded through the modification of natural waterfall barriers?

5. Habitat Characterization and Capacity • Where are the “best remaining habitat” for each species? • Where are the “most productive” or “most used” habitats for each species? • Where were the most productive habitats historically? • What are the current production capacities

6. What are the current habitat conditions • How much of the total accessible habitat is suitable, unsuitable, or marginal for production? • What course-scale habitat features indicate good habitat for each species at each life stage. • What tidewater/estuarine habitats are critical for salmonid survival? • What were the historic production capacities?

7. What distribution of fully functioning habitat patches across the WLC landscape will ensure life history and genetic diversity for self-sustaining populations over the long term?

8. Identification of Threats/Limiting Factors • What are the aquatic habitat-factors limiting production for each population? • What environmental toxicants are most likely to have a negative effect on juvenile and adult survival and migration in the WLC. • What quantities are dangerous to the fish?

9. Preliminary Identification of Recovery Actions • Which habitats areas should be conserved/protected? And what actions are need to conserve/protect those areas? • What is the suite of potential habitat restoration actions that should be pursued? • How much improvement should we expect for actions over what timeframe?

10. In what order of priority should the limiting factors for the areas be addressed to achieve the greatest, most cost-effective means for recovery aquatic habitat? • What R, M, and E regimes are needed to insure that recovery and protection goals are being achieved?

11. Questions to Assist Other TRT Work Groups • What aquatic habitat characteristics or attributes may help distinguish unique populations? • What are the trends in habitat characteristics that may help explain variability in distribution, abundance, and diversity of populations.

12. Tidewater area least understood • Most Columbia River/Snake River Basins salmonids, lamprey, and sturgeon have a life stage the utilizes the tidewater. • Most studies have been in the estuary (saline influence) or sub-basins. • High need to understand this region

13. Tide-Water Area Objectives • Characterize habitat/fish productivity relationship • Identify factors for decline and factors limiting recovery • Identify early action for recovery • Identify Research, monitoring, and evaluation needs.

14. Primary Questions • What are the historical and current distributions of salmonids by life stage within tidal-fluvial areas. • How has the geographic distribution and timing changed historical distribution and timing has changed due to human influence. • How have aquatic habitat and riparian conditions changed from historical conditions?

15. What was the historical production capacity by species? • What are they currently? • What are the primary factors for any changes from historical to current? • What are the current conditions of accessible habitat?

16. What areas are considered non-suitable for spawning and rearing? • What areas are critical for completing necessary life cycle stages and expressing life history diversity. • What are the most productive remaining habitats?

17. Products • Narrative descriptions • Maps • Comparison of historical vs current conditions. • Recommendations for • Habitat delisting criteria • Recovery actions • R, M and E programs.

18. Objectives and Tasks • Collect, analyze, and synthesize existing available data • Describe historical conditions • Habitat typing • Watershed characterization and Assessment

19. Determine salmon life-stage-specific dependence on habitat types • Describe the relationships of various habitat types to salmon needs.

20. Develop habitat performance standards for tidal-fluval reach and estuarine actions to guide recovery planning and delisting criteria development. • Describe ecological processes and functions • Propose guidelines for recovery planning and specific delisting criteria that would increase habitat availability, quality, and use in the tidal areas.

21. Describe Resarch, Monitoring, and Evaluation needs. • Describe critical uncertainties in data and scientific principles that could lead to erroneous decisions and/or broad range of expected outcomes from management actions. • Propose a R, M and E program to reduce critical uncertainties.