Johnson Creek Artificial Propagation Enhancement Monitoring and Evaluation Project
Statement of Work and Budget FY2006

BPA Project Number:  1996-043-00
BPA Project Title: Johnson Creek Artificial Propagation Enhancement Project
Contract Number:  16450
Contract Title: Johnson Creek Artificial Propagation Enhancement Project Monitoring and Evaluation Program
Performance/Budget Period: 1/1/06-12/31/06

Technical Contact Name:    Craig Rabe
Technical Contact Title:    Project Leader
Company / Agency Name:    Nez Perce Tribe
Street Mailing Address:    P. O. Box 1942, 125 So. Mission
City, ST Zip+4:    McCall, Idaho 83638
Technical Contact Phone / Fax    (208) 634-5290 ext 3311; FAX (208) 634-4097
Technical Contact email:  craigr@nezperce.org

Contracting Contact Name:    Jay Hesse
Contracting Contact Title:    Director Biological Services
Company / Agency Name:    Nez Perce Tribe
Street Mailing Address:    P. O. Box 365
City, ST Zip+4:    Lapwai, Idaho 83540
Contracting Contact Phone / Fax:    (208) 843-7145 ext 3552; FAX (208) 843-9184
Contract Contact email:  jayh@nezperce.org

Financial Contact Name:    Kelly Wasson/Arleen Henry
Financial Contact Title:    Finance Director/Grant and Contract Accountant
Company / Agency Name:    Nez Perce Tribe
Street Mailing Address:    P. O. Box 365
City, ST Zip+4:    Lapwai, Idaho 83540
Financial Contact Phone / Fax:    (208) 843-7317 ext 2353/2437: FAX (208) 843-7319
Financial Contact email:    kellyw@nezperce.org/ arleenh@nezperce.org


In 1998, the JCAPE project requested an emergency Step-2 action from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC) to begin limited salmon supplementation of the Johnson Creek stock of summer Chinook salmon population.  This request was to produce 100,000 smolts in existing facilities at the McCall Fish Hatchery.  This action allowed the JCAPE project to start the recovery of the Johnson Creek stock while the JCAPE project continued development through the NPCC 3-Step review process.  This limited production has now occurred in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005.  The original proposal for the JCAPE project was to produce 300,000 smolts annually. This level of production would have required the development of new satellite facilities on Johnson Creek and the expansion of the McCall Fish Hatchery.  NOAA Fisheries indicated, in August 2002, that they would only permit the JCAPE project for 100,000 smolts.  This level of production could be accomplished utilized existing hatchery facilities without modifications.

Johnson Creek Artificial Propagation Enhancement Project is a conservation program that will spawn, incubate, rear, and release summer Chinook salmon. This program will utilize existing incubation and rearing facilities at the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (LSRCP) juvenile rearing hatchery at McCall, Idaho.  Juvenile fish will be reared to the smolt stage and direct released into Johnson Creek.  The production goal for Johnson Creek Chinook salmon remains 100,000 smolts.  These numbers are authorized by NMFS through Section 10 permits of the Endangered Species Act (ESA Permit #1250, approval pending).

Juveniles will be raised to smolts from incubation to release in variable water temperature conditions mimicking the natural regime. Rearing conditions will also include low density (0.1 to 0.30 lb/cf/in), and natural photo-period (indoors).  Smolts will be direct released into a known natural production area in Johnson Creek with the intent that the returning adults will spawn in their natural habitat.  Releases of juvenile smolts occurred in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005.  Existing McCall Fish Hatchery facility structure limits JCAPE production to one final rearing container. As such, concurrent comparative rearing strategies are not possible.

This program, initiated prior to the first releases of supplemented fish, has been collecting baseline life-history characteristic information, to examine survival of the natural fish in Johnson Creek and any potential effects that the supplementation program may have on the natural population. This M&E program quantifies 38 key performance measures, which are being standardized throughout Columbia River Basin (within Collaborative System-wide Monitoring and Evaluation Project), and contributes to regional monitoring and evaluation (RM&E) efforts addressing critical uncertainties associated with supplementation and ESA listed stock status/recovery.  These performance measures are listed in six major categories: (1) Abundance, (2) Survival-Productivity, (3) Distribution, (4) Genetic, (5) Life History, and (6) Habitat.  Evaluation under the context of these performance measures give us the most accuarate means to evaluate this supplementation program.