The Walla Walla Salmonid Monitoring and Evaluation Project (WWM&E) is funded by Bonneville Power Administration (BPA, project No. 2000-039-00) under the 2008 Columbia Basin Fish Accords Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Treaty Tribes and Federal Columbia River Power System.   The purpose of this collaborative project is to conduct natural production, tributary habitat, hatchery research, and monitoring and evaluation. Our goal is to provide ecological information and technical services to decision makers in support of adaptive management for restoration, conservation, and preservation of cultural, social, and economic salmonid resources. We plan to do this by collecting Viable Salmonid Population (VSP) criteria including estimates of abundance, productivity, survival rates, and distribution of reintroduced spring Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) salmon, ESA-listed summer steelhead (O. mykiss), and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus). Project results, including fish per redd, smolts per redd, smolt-to-adult return, recruit per spawner, etc. are used to help inform and adapt salmonid management and recovery goals.

Study objectives are to monitor and evaluate salmonid viability, survival and productivity (VSP) in areas of the Walla Walla River, Touchet River and Mill Creek drainages.  This project estimates adult returns, spawning abundance, and smolt production to describe stock status and trends in relation to hatchery and habitat treatments and ESA recovery needs.  The project provides technical information support to fish and land managers, planners and stakeholders involved with maintaining viable salmon and steelhead populations in southeast Washington and northeast Oregon.

Project work includes Adult Enumeration, Spawning Surveys, Out-migrant monitoring, PIT tagging, Electrofishing and Fish Salvage, and some limited monitoring of habitat conditions (summer and fall water quantities and water temperatures) that directly affect salmonid presence and survival in the Walla Walla Basin. This collaborative project is conducted by the CTUIR and WDFW as funded by the Columbia River Fish Accords through 2017. The work location is the Walla Walla River Basin and tributaries (e.g. Touchet River, South Fork, and Mill Creek). Project methods were adapted from the Salmonid Field Protocols Handbook: Techniques for Assessing Status and Trends in Salmonid and Trout Populations (http://www.stateofthesalmon.org/fieldprotocols/). A major focus of ours is to estimate “adults in” and “juveniles out” as a measure of salmonid population viability; for example, adult salmonids entering the basin to spawn are enumerated using weirs and video, spawning fish and carcasses are enumerated by multiple pass ground surveys, while the juvenile emigrant population is estimated using rotary screw traps and PIT-tags.  We believe these monitoring and evaluation actions meet the highest priorities for fish population monitoring as identified in the Walla Walla Subbasin Plan, the Snake River Salmon Recovery Plan, and the Mid Columbia River Steelhead Recovery Plan.  Project metrics include: 1) estimates of adult returns, run timing and distribution, 2) spawning escapement, redd counts and distribution, 3) out-migrant condition, abundance, survival and timing at emigration, 4) smolt survival and timing to Columbia River interrogation sites, 5) smolt to adult returns, adult recruitment, 6) numbers of salmonids rearing, or their distribution during summer, 7) numbers and life stages of salmonids rescued or salvaged, and 8) water quantity and water quality (temperature) conditions in selected areas of the Walla Walla Subbasin.  

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) collaboratively worked with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) to submit the collaborative fish monitoring proposal to BPA in 2005.  BPA provided separate contracts to WDFW and CTUIR in June of 2007 for the joint project.  Funding for WDFW's participation currently has been incorporated into the CTUIR's MOA with BPA for this project.  CTUIR and WDFW project partners collaborate on the project proposal, budget, statements of work and annual report, but they retain their individual contracts with BPA.  CTUIR project offices are located at the William A. Grant Water and Science Center at Walla Walla Community College, in Walla Walla.  WDFW project and District office is located in Dayton, Washington.  Previously, CTUIR and WDFW conducted separate studies and reported to BPA in separate annual reports under project numbers 1998-020-00 and 2000-039-00.  Previous project reports may be found at www.data.umatilla.nsn.us/fisheries/index.aspx, or http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/research/projects/se_wash_fish/ or efw.bpa.gov/searchpublications/.