This contract provides for monitoring and evaluation of the Nez Perce Tribe’s Chinook salmon supplementation program in the Lostine River.  Monitoring and evaluation consists of data collection, data analysis, and communication of results.  These activities are coordinated and often accomplished cooperatively with fisheries co-managers of the Nez Perce Tribe.

The data collection for this contract will begin in February with the pre-release sampling of juvenile Chinook salmon at Lookingglass Hatchery.  During juvenile releases PIT tag interrogation data is collected as the fish leave the Lostine River Acclimation Facility during March and April.  Data collection for adult Chinook salmon will begin in May at the Lostine River weir and will continue through September.  During this time period bank surveys and spawning ground surveys will be accomplished with data being collected from live and dead fish.  Data collection in October will consist of PIT tagging juvenile Chinook salmon at Lookingglass Fish hatchery.  Additionally, water temperature data from the Lostine River will be collected on monthly basis (when access to sites permits) throughout the year.

The analysis of the data for this contract will begin with summarizing data for the performance measures outlined in the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for Northeast Oregon Hatcheries (Hesse et al. 2006).  These performance measures describe juvenile and adult live history characteristics, abundance, and survival of compare the performance of hatchery Chinook salmon to natural Chinook salmon.  The performance measures include the annual number of fish captured by origin and escapement, age at return, sex ratios, smolt-to-adult returns, spawner abundance, redd abundance and distribution, and progeny per parent ratios.  The analysis may include comparisons of trends in the Lostine River to other streams in Northeast Oregon such as the Minam and Wenaha rivers.

The results of data collection and analysis will be communicated to co-managers through an annual report.  Information that is pertinent to ongoing management of Lostine River Chinook salmon will be provided at Grande Ronde Subbasin Technical Oversite Team meetings, and the Annual Operation Plan meeting for the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan in Northeast Oregon.  Additionally, results may be presented at annual chapter meetings of the American Fisheries Society.