A. PROJECT BACKGROUND

     The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) requested a modification to Permit 1011 to allow the take of adult spring Chinook salmon in 1997.  Adult salmon from the Lostine River, Catherine Creek, and the Upper Grande Ronde River were needed to begin a conventional supplementation program in the basin.  A special condition in the permit required the development of a long term management plan for the spring Chinook salmon of the Grande Ronde Basin. The Nez Perce Tribe (NPT), ODFW, and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) completed a formal long-range plan entitled "Grande Ronde Basin Endemic Spring Chinook Salmon Supplementation Program". The program proposes to increase the survival of spring Chinook salmon in the Grande Ronde Basin through hatchery intervention.  The Nez Perce Tribe received its own ESA Section 10 Permit (#1149) in 2000. The program now operates under this ESA permit.

     The NPT coordinate fish culture of Lostine River Chinook salmon at Lookingglass Hatchery with ODFW.  The hatchery was constructed in 1982 as part of the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan.  Future fish culture and monitoring and evaluation activities have been planned for by the North East Oregon Hatchery (NEOH) Master Plan (198805301) at a new proposed facility.  The Lostine River Monitoring and Evaluation's 2009 work schedule will produce some performance measures needed for future monitoring and evaluation of NEOH production.  When and if all the recommendations of the NEOH Master Plan are funded the monitoring and evaluations conducted by this program will be incorporated into the monitoring and evaluation study design proposed by the NEOH Master Plan.

     The NPT is responsible for supplementation activities and monitoring and evaluation on the Lostine River. A weir and trap are operated on the Lostine River for the collection of Chinook broodstock and the collection of biological data. Monitoring of the Lostine weir (RKM 1) coincides with its operation along with the collection of environmental data. The performance of hatchery produced fish is evaluated against the standards set by natural production. The Nez Perce Tribe also conducts spawning ground surveys with co-managers.

B.  PROJECT PURPOSE

     The purpose of this project is to provide co-managers with information needed for making annual decisions that affect Lostine River Chinook salmon and data sets needed for the long term evaluation of supplementation.  Co-managers refer to the participants in the Lower Snake River Fish and Wildlife Compensation Plan (LSRCP) Grande Ronde and Imnaha Basins Annual Operation Plan (AOP).  These AOPs are conducted in January and February of each year by ODFW and the following agencies participated (CTUIR, Oregon Dept, NOAA Fisheries (NMFS), Nez Perce Tribe Dept. of Fisheries Resources Management (NPT DFRM), and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).  The data sets referenced meet the needs stated in the Final Draft of the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for NEOH Imnaha and Grande Ronde Subbasin Spring Chinook Salmon (Hesse et al. 2006).  The data sets needed for the monitoring and evaluation plan are described in the paragraphs that follow and refer only to Lostine River spring Chinook salmon.

     Adult escapement is estimated annually.  The Lostine River weir is not 100% efficient and spawning occurs below the weir.  Adult fish captured at the weir are marked with opercle punch patterns and a percentage is later recovered in late summer and fall during spawning ground surveys.  Escapement will be estimated using an adjusted Peterson estimate (Chapman 1951; Seber 1982).  

     Adult catch is summarized annually.  Not all Chinook salmon captured are passed above the weir.  A number of fish are taken for broodstock.  Hatchery fish are out-planted to adjacent tributaries to maintain AOP agreements with co-managers.  And other Chinook salmon are transported around dewatered sections of the Lostine River during periods where irrigation lowers discharge in the lower portion of the Lostine River (work performed as part of the O&M contract under the 1998-007-02 project).

     Age at return is summarized annually.  Supplementation programs are often associated with a change in returning age structure (i.e. high rate of jack returns).  Sex ratios are summarized annually as part of this data set (disproportionate number of jacks may skew sex ratios).  Knowledge of age structure is needed for three consecutive years to estimate the age structure of a brood year return.

     A smolt to adult return (SAR) estimate is summarized from age at return data for the most recent complete brood year return (e.g. brood year 2002 will be complete in 2007).  Knowledge of SARs allow co-managers to assess the current project goals.  Production for the Lostine River O&M is based on an SAR of  0.10% that was based on an average SAR value of 0.13% from the Imnaha River spring/summer Chinook salmon production  program (Ashe et al. 2000).  Additionally, SARs are useful for long term analyses that determine if actions are recovering a population.

     The number of redds above and below the weir is summarized annually to determine adults per redd and distribution of redds. This data set is needed to determine if the weir or supplementation impacted the distribution of spawners.  This is a continuation of a data set from 1986.

     The number of juvenile Chinook salmon leaving the acclimation ponds is estimated annually from an expansion of the proportion of PIT tags detected daily at the outlet of the acclimation ponds.  In theory, volitional acclimation allows juveniles time to begin smoltification before migration and ultimately increase there survival and adult returns.  The data will be presented as the percentage leaving volitionally annually..

     The size of hatchery juveniles is documented during PIT tagging the previous fall, in February prerelease sampling at Lookingglass Hatchery, and at recapture events at the Lostine River screw trap following the volitional release.  Long term use of this data is used to compare life history traits of hatchery and natural Chinook salmon and to determine if size at emigration influenced survival, or returns of jack Chinook salmon.

     Estimates of juvenile survival from release to Lower Granite Dam are produced for hatchery and natural Chinook salmon to evaluate if the hatchery produced a viable product and to determine mortality from release to Lower Granite Dam.


C.  AUTHORIZATION

     The Northwest Power Planning Council's (NPPC) Fish and Wildlife Program identifies supplementation as a high priority to achieve its goal of increasing runs of anadromous fish in the Columbia Basin. The monitoring and evaluation research proposed by the NPT relates directly to the needs addressed in the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (NPPC 1994).  Measure 7.4L.1 of the Program mandated that appropriate research accompany any proposed supplementation. Measure 7.3B.2 of the Fish and Wildlife Program stressed the need for evaluating supplementation projects to assess their ability to increase natural production. And section 7.4D.3 encouraged the study of hatchery rearing and release strategies to improve survival and adaptation of cultured fish.  

     The Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP) reviewed the Lostine River Monitoring and Evaluation project and recommended funding as a high priority project in December of 2001.  The ISRP's recommendation was consistent with the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority's (CWFWA) recommendation.  The recommendations led to the NPCC recommendation for funding for 2005 in August of 2004.  The ISRP reviewed the Lostine River Monitoring and Evaluation project again in 2006 and recommended the project for funding (ISRP document # 2006-6).  The NPCC adopted the fundable recommendation on September 15, 2006.

     Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA) Discussion: The Lostine project is part of the safety net program identified in the Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion.  RPA Hatchery Action #184 - Establishes research and monitoring and evaluation needs to determine whether hatchery reforms reduce the risk of extinction and whether conservation hatcheries contribute to recovery.  

D.  COORDINATION

     The Nez Perce Tribe, in recognition of the above, has coordinated Chinook salmon supplementation activities and related research on the Lostine River with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), NMFS, ODFW, USFWS, and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).

     The NPT also worked cooperatively with ODFW and CTUIR in the planning and development of the Grande Ronde Basin Endemic Spring Chinook Salmon Supplementation Program.  This project continues to participate in management meetings regarding this program. Cooperative efforts with ODFW, CTUIR, and NMFS are required to establish synergistic relationships between this and the projects listed below.

     Artificial Production projects funded under the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program that are or will be associated with this project are: 199801006 - Captive Broodstock Artificial Propagation (NPT), 198805301 - Northeast Oregon Hatchery (NEOH) Master Plan (NPT), 198805305 -NEOH Master Plan and Facilities (ODFW), and 199604400 - Grande Ronde Basin Spring Chinook Captive Broodstock Program. Monitoring and evaluation of hatchery products will occur through this M&E project.

     Monitoring and Evaluation projects funded under the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program that will complement the Lostine M&E Project are: 198712700 - Smolt Monitoring by Non-Federal Entities, 199801006 - Captive broodstock Artificial Propagation and 199202604 - Spring Chinook Salmon Early Life History (ODFW).