The ISRP was pleased that the proponents oriented their project around the First Foods concept, especially as a framework for the objectives and the monitoring activities. The CTUIR not only use the concept for project guidance and governance but also include it in the restoration objectives for the North Fork of the John Day basin in Appendix 3. This is a valuable example of how integration of the Tribe’s traditional knowledge with regional scientific knowledge provides strength to both and, at the same time, increases the cultural and social relevance of the overall effort. The ISRP encourages the CTUIR to continue to highlight the benefits of recognizing diverse knowledge sources in order to achieve goals for fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin.

The ISRP highlights four suggestions to improve the project and its future evaluation:

1. SMART objectives. The SMART objectives should be in the main proposal narrative in Section 3. Incorporating these would greatly improve the ability of reviewers to evaluate the program accurately.
2. M&E matrix - support. As habitat projects and monitoring projects are not presented as part of an integrated proposal or plan, the need for a crosswalk to identify the linkages between implementation and monitoring is extremely important for basins or geographic areas. The ISRP is requesting a response from the Escapement and Productivity of Spring Chinook and Steelhead Project (199801600) to summarize the linkages between implementation and monitoring projects in the basin. During the response loop (September 24 to November 22, 2021), we ask your project to assist them in creating the summary and provide information about what is being monitored for your implementation project and about where and when the monitoring occurs. A map or maps of locations of monitoring actions would be helpful in this regard.
3. Examples of restoration outcomes. In a previous review, the ISRP asked that monitoring results be emphasized to a greater degree. The proposal does a great job of providing links to other reports, but a few examples showing changes in key properties over time would have been helpful.
4. Benefits to fish and wildlife. Since project activities are starting to be reflected in benefits to fish and to environmental quality, the ISRP recommends that the project develop plans for a comprehensive analysis and a description of the collective benefits of activities over the last two decades. This synthesis would be timely and useful.

Q1: Clearly defined objectives and outcomes

This is a well-functioning and comprehensive project, one that has greatly matured in its approaches and outcomes over the past decade. The objectives, in a general sense, are on target even though the longer-term ecological outcomes may be difficult to predict at this time.

The proponents have internally developed SMART objectives for the funding period, but the details are buried in Appendix 3. The ISRP emphasizes that the SMART objectives should appear as part of the main proposal narrative in Section 3 (Goals and Objectives). This will facilitate future evaluations of progress toward expected outcomes. Additionally, the project could provide more specific outcomes for some objectives. For instance, one objective is to “increase and reestablish in-stream thermal diversity throughout the year.” What metric will be used to quantify thermal diversity and what level of thermal diversity is the desired outcome?

Q2: Methods

The methods are based largely on established best management practices and are reasonable for the actions being proposed.

Table 2 lists examples of outreach efforts associated with certain project objectives, and it is noted later in the Potential Confounding Factors section that landowner priorities sometimes shift. Given the rich scope of this project, reviewers wonder if more outreach opportunities exist, and if they may not be of growing importance given the environmental challenges facing the basin (i.e., invasive species, changing climate). The ISRP also sees great value in communicating project results with others outside the basin, thereby encouraging even broader engagement/outreach efforts.

Q3: Provisions for M&E

The proponents have developed an effective Adaptive Management process, especially with the sustained involvement of additional collaborators. While it is not always clear who will be doing monitoring for specific project outcomes (there are numerous organizations involved), it is important that the data are appropriate for the activity and that they are readily available, which appears to be the case.

The proposal notes that the status of beaver populations is low, but that no formal census is available. Based on their importance to channel maintenance, is a status evaluation warranted? Two additional alternatives would be for the project to develop a few beaver reintroduction projects in areas where beaver could enhance existing efforts and to adopt a beaver-tolerance policy.

Given the emphasis on climate change in the confounding factors section, it is not clear whether monitoring is evaluating the success of efforts to preserve cooler water temperatures. Are these efforts working? In the Confounding Factors section, modeling water temperatures is mentioned, and while a model is good for broadly assessing vulnerability to changes in climate, such large-scale modeling typically does not account for the type of site-specific management actions occurring throughout the basin. Therefore, it would be helpful for future work to investigate water temperatures above and below restoration locations to evaluate the effectiveness of specific actions.

Q4: Results – benefits to fish and wildlife

Project activities are starting to be reflected in benefits to fish as well as to environmental quality. Considering the longevity of the project, a more thorough evaluation of the benefits would be timely. The ISRP suggests that the project develop plans for a comprehensive analysis and description of the collective benefits of activities that have taken place over the last two decades for fish and wildlife.