This Scope of Work (SOW) will enable the Bonneville Power Administration (Bonneville) to implement the Project in the Entiat River Subbasin under an IMW framework with the objectives of (1) determining the effectiveness of restoration efforts in the Entiat River in increasing productivity of spring Chinook and steelhead, (2) estimating spring Chinook salmon and steelhead smolt production, and (3) estimating life history parameters of spring Chinook and steelhead.  Specifically, within this SOW, USFWS will achieve these objectives by 1) providing data to be used in estimating the population, growth and survival of spring Chinook and steelhead within the Entiat River Subbasin by conducting tagging events within side channels distributed along the river,  (2) estimating the smolt production of spring Chinook salmon and steelhead for the Entiat River subbasin, (3) conducting steelhead redd surveys along the mainstem, (4) maintaining and operating instream PIT tag detection systems (IPTDS)  and (5) estimating life history parameters of spring Chinook and steelhead using data from tagging juvenile spring Chinook and steelhead in side channel habitats and at the rotary screw trap and combining this data with data collected from tagging work conducted by Terraqua Inc at locations along the mainstem.  

ISEMP began monitoring fish and habitat in the Wenatchee and Entiat River subbasins in the Upper Columbia in 2004 and Terraqua Inc., has coordinated its implementation since its inception.  ISEMP has been implemented in the Upper Columbia through collaboration with co-managers and partners who have implemented various aspects of the work in the different subbasins.  USFWS began collaborating with ISEMP in 2007 with an initial contract to expand operation of rotary screw traps at the mouth and RM6 of the Entiat River and to conduct snorkel surveys at sites along the mainstem Entiat following a BACI design.  The scope of the contract has expanded over the years to include steelhead redd surveys on the mainstem, a tagging effort at sites along the mainstem and side channels, and operation and maintenance of multiple IPTDS.  An IMW approach was implemented in the Entiat in 2010, which resulted in changes of protocols and sampling designs, which USFWS has subsequently implemented.  In summary:

2007: Expand temporal operations of rotary screw trap and conduct day and night time snorkel surveys
2008: Added steelhead redd surveys
2009: No change to SOW
2010: Added operation and maintenance of multiple IPTDS
2011: Added tagging study for juveniles at sites on mainstem
2012: Added tagging study for juveniles in side channel habitat and support for fish population status and trend monitoring in Wenatchee and Entiat
2013: No changes
2014: Ended support for fish population status and trend monitoring as this effort was consolidated to be more efficient and cost-effective under Terraqua
2015: Transferred mainstem tagging study and nighttime operation of the Entiat rotary screw trap to Terraqua due to hiring problems within USFWS
2016:  Added O&M on a new ISPTD in Roaring Creek (in collaboration with WDFW this array will support estimates of spawners in the Entiat that WDFW conducts each year using a run decomposition approach), which brings the number of ISPTDs to 7.  The number of side channels being monitored as part of the Entiat IMW is also being increased to up to 7 (was 6 previously) to cover new or enhanced side channels that will be created as part of the next round of habitat actions implementation.

Background

The Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program (ISEMP, 2003-017-00) is an ongoing collaborative effort to design, test, implement and evaluate Status and Trends Monitoring for salmon and steelhead populations and their habitat, and watershed-scale Effectiveness Monitoring for management actions impacting salmon and steelhead populations and habitat in the Interior Columbia River Basin.

ISEMP explicitly addresses work requirements of many 2008 FCRPS Biological Opinion RPAs (56.1, 56.2, 56.3, 57.1, 57.2, 57.3, 57.4, 57.5) and is directly related to additional 2008 FCRPS Biological Opinion implementation strategy requirements and recommendations. ISEMP takes a pilot-project approach to the research and development of monitoring by implementing experimental programs in several major subbasins of the Interior Columbia: the Wenatchee, Entiat, John Day, South Fork Salmon and Lemhi River basins. The overall goal of the project is to provide regional salmon management agencies with the data, information and tools necessary to design efficient and effective monitoring programs.

Specifically, ISEMP generates quantitative guidance on and examples of: the robustness and limitations of population and habitat monitoring protocols, indicators and metrics; sampling design approaches for the distribution of monitoring effort in time and space; analytical approaches to the evaluation of monitoring data, information and programs; effective data management and communication designs that support the use, standardization and compilation of implementation, compliance, status, trends and effectiveness monitoring data by regional data generators and decision makers; and finally the design and implementation of watershed-scale restoration actions to maximize both the biological impact and associated learning opportunities resulting from the design and implementation strategy, known as Intensively Monitored Watersheds (IMWs).

Through its work to date, ISEMP has developed expertise in the coordination and implementation of large-scale monitoring data collection programs. In its collaboration with ISEMP, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has implemented key components of the effectiveness monitoring for spring Chinook and steelhead under the Entiat IMW since 2007. These programmatic implementation facets of ISEMP leverage previous experience with logistics and social factors to effectively implement comprehensive, standardized monitoring research and development at an unprecedented scale.  

This contract is one of several contracts that will implement this project.  Each contract is responsible for an end of contract progress report.  Additionally, a project level "synthesis report" will also be produced under this project and data and analysis from this contract will be utilized in the production of that project level report.  The synthesis report is a deliverable under the Terraqua contract (not this contract) under 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.  USFWS's. role has been, and continues to be, to enable the Bonneville Power Administration to implement Project #2003-017-00 in the Entiat River subbasin.