CONTRACT DESCRIPTION

This is an 9-month contract, running from April 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008.  This will ensure that under future contracts all contract work is completed before the start of the field season and that all field activities within a fiscal year are covered under one contract.

Project #2003-017-00 (Project) seeks to develop two novel monitoring and evaluation programs: (i) subbasin-scale pilot status and trend monitoring efforts for anadromous salmonids and their habitat in the Wenatchee, John Day and South Fork Salmon River basins, and (ii) effectiveness monitoring for suites of habitat restoration projects in selected watersheds within the three target subbasins.  This work - critical for implementing the 2000 NMFS FCRPS Biological Opinion (RPA Actions 180, 181, and 183) (BiOp) - builds on current status and trend monitoring programs within each of these basins.  Several regional and local organizations are funding and implementing these programs.  This project will integrate existing and new monitoring and evaluation activities in three pilot subbasins to help ensure that provisions of the BiOp are satisfied.

This contract is one of several contracts that will implement this project.  The FINAL REPORT for this contract will contain data that will 1) be submitted to NOAA FISHERIES (also a contractor under this project) for use in a  project level integrated Annual Report and 2) be submitted to BPA as a contract final report according to the terms of this contract. This Scope of Work (SOW) will enable the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to implement the Project in the Wenatchee Subbasin.  Specifically, within this SOW, United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service (USFS) will estimate the total number of steelhead redds in 25 randomly selected streams reaches within the Wenatchee Subbasin.  

The work elements within this SOW expand upon previous and current monitoring work being conducted by USFS and are key components of the two monitoring and evaluation programs developed by the Project. Past and current USFS monitoring work includes steelhead spawning surveys in the Wenatchee, Methow, Entiat and Naches subbasins; fine sediment, stream temperature, fish distribution surveys, habitat surveys, and bull trout spawning surveys in the Methow, Entiat, Wenatchee, Upper Yakima and Naches subbasins.  All the monitoring programs are coordinated with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Yakama Nation, Chelan County and Douglas County Public Utility Districts, and other ISEMP contractors.  
These work elements are interrelated with other Project components including steelhead spawning surveys in index reaches and reconnaissance/coordination work performed by CCD (Cascadia Conservation District) and Terraqua, Inc.  While the completion of most work elements within this SOW is not dependent on the implementation of interrelated Project components, the completion of this SOW will provide the context for, and facilitate the interpretation of, data collected in other Project components.  

Two work elements within this SOW will be dependent on the implementation of an interrelated Project component.  Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will be conducting steelhead spawning ground surveys at index reaches.  Counts of steelhead in these index reaches will be required, in conjunction with USFS surveys at randomly-selected sites, to generate total Subbasin escapement values.  Cascadia Conservation District will be obtaining permission for USFS to conduct work under this SOW at sites that are on private lands.  CCD's ability to perform this service required by this SOW requires timely input of data from USFS.

The USFS Wenatchee National Forest will conduct day snorkel surveys at 50 status and trend sites in the Wenatchee subbasin in the summer of 2008 in coordination with the Yakama Nation, and assist the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with night time snorkel surveys at 30 effectiveness monitoring sites in the Entiat subbasin in the fall of 2008.   In addition, the USFS Entiat Ranger District currently deploys and operates water temperature data loggers to record continuous water temperature data in the Entiat and Mad Rivers, collects and processes spawning gravel samples from the Entiat and Mad Rivers to determine percent fines, and  performs steelhead spawning ground surveys in the Mad River.  


Unless changes are mutually agreed to by the Upper Columbia Regional Technical Team (RTT) and USFS, technical methodologies for all work conducted under this SOW will follow protocols specified in the following document:


Hillman, T.W.  2004.  Monitoring strategy for the Upper Columbia Basin: Draft report February 1, 2004.  Prepared for Upper Columbia Regional Technical Team, Wenatchee, Washington.

NOAA-Fisheries and the RTT are creating an appendix to Hillman (2004) describing specific inter-relationships between several monitoring elements, currently in draft version.  This draft document, and eventually the final appendix, will provide additional context for this SOW, but will not constitute a contractual element of this SOW.