This Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission project provides critical research and monitoring for the Grande Ronde River basin. They provide information and analyses that are used by the Grande Ronde Model Watershed Umbrella Project as well as by a large number of habitat restoration projects, state and Federal agencies, recovery plans, and the Fish and Wildlife Program. The proponents provide clear responses to past Council recommendations and ISRP reviews. It is an exemplary project that balances rigorous primary research with monitoring of status and trends of habitat conditions and populations of salmon and steelhead. This is among the most productive projects in the Columbia Basin in terms of peer-reviewed publications, publicly accessible databases, methods development, and integration reports. They have developed a strong reputation as a valued cooperator and leader in conservation and restoration within the Basin. The proposal is clearly written, informative, consistent with the requested format, and could serve as an example for other projects.

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 Grande Ronde Model Watershed Project (199202601) to summarize the linkages between implementation and monitoring projects in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha geographic area. During the response loop (September 24 to November 22, 2021) , we ask this project to assist them in creating the summary and provide information to them about what is being monitored by this project and where and when the monitoring occurs. A map or maps of locations of monitoring actions would be helpful in this regard.

Q1: Clearly defined objectives and outcomes

The proponents provide clearly written goals and objectives and integrate them with the description of methods and the project timelines. While the objectives are not quantitative and SMART, they do clearly outline the scope of the project. Revising objectives to be more quantitative (SMART) would make assessing their achievement simpler and more obvious. As they stand, they are essentially implementation targets for RM&E efforts. The ISRP encourages the proponents to make their objectives quantitative and time-bound where possible. These improved objectives can be included in future annual reports or included in a revised proposal that the proponents can use for project operations and internal evaluation.

Q2: Methods

The proposal clearly describes the methods for each objective, with additional documentation, information in appendices, and details in MonitoringResources.org. The project proposes a series of high-impact activities that will benefit the Grande Ronde and Minam rivers and will refine methods that likely will be used by others in the Columbia River Basin. The proposal includes a robust plan for managing and sharing data, including dissemination of the life cycle model.

Two key examples stand out with respect to contributions beyond this project. First, the use of a life cycle model for evaluating restoration actions is an effective and meaningful way to understand restoration benefits that addresses issues of natural variability and out-of-basin factors. This practice should be encouraged in other basins. One example of an important and distressing finding from the life cycle modeling efforts is that extinction risk is certain for the Upper Grande Ronde population. If results are confirmed with the updated model and data, they will have major implications for ongoing restoration efforts in the basin and beyond. Second, the White et al. 2021 Fisheries publication is an important resource for other programs in the basin, and Council should work with the authors to find a way to broadly disseminate it.

Q3: Provisions for M&E

The proponents have responded positively to past ISRP conditions and recommendations. The project not only has developed a thorough and careful annual evaluation process both internally and externally but has also assisted the Grande Ronde Model Watershed in its development of an excellent adaptive evaluation process. Further, the project has reported on its approach to adaptive management in the peer-reviewed publication in Fisheries. This project clearly is a regional leader in the Pacific Northwest and provides value added for both Tribal and non-Tribal projects in the Columbia River Basin.

The proponents’ discussion of potential confounding factors includes climate change, food webs, land use change, and a development of life cycle models. They not only describe these confounding factors, but they also explicitly describe how their work and published products inform regional resource managers in addressing these critical confounding factors through restoration actions.

Q4: Results – benefits to fish and wildlife

The proposal contains extensive and detailed description of the project’s accomplishments, quantitative outcomes, and benefits to fish and wildlife. Many of their achievements and ecological analyses have been documented in recent peer-reviewed literature. Their description of Progress to Date in Appendix B was extremely impressive and informative, and supplemented an already impressive description of benefits to fish and wildlife in the proposal text. Their results provide information and regional syntheses sorely needed by the Fish and Wildlife Program. While the results may not always be what others want to see, they are charting a way forward that will reap important benefits for fish and wildlife.

Reference

White, S.M., S. Brandy, C. Justice, K.A. Morinaga, L. Naylor, J. Ruzycki, E.R. Sedell, J. Steele, A. Towne James, G. Webster, and I. Wilson. Progress towards a comprehensive approach for habitat restoration in the Columbia Basin: Case study in the Grande Ronde River. Fisheries, December 4, 2020, fsh.10562. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsh.10562