The Walla Walla Salmonid Monitoring and Evaluation Project (WWM&E) was established in 2007 as a collaborative project (BPA project No. 2000-039-00), and it was included under the 2008 Columbia Basin Fish Accords Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and BPA.   CTUIR and WDFW had submitted a joint proposal to BPA in 2005 to combine our previous projects that included fish monitoring work in the Walla Walla Basin. In January 2007, BPA requested that this collaborative project proposal be amended to focus on salmonid status and trend monitoring for the highest priority population parameters. Tribal and state partners agreed to collaborate on the proposal, budget, statement of work, and annual report, but each has retained separate contracts with BPA.  Prior to this collaboration, the CTUIR and WDFW conducted separate monitoring and evaluation projects in the Walla Walla Basin under BPA project numbers 200003900 and 199802000, respectively (see http://data.umatilla.nsn.us/, http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/research/projects/se_wa_fish/, and efw.bpa.gov).  

The Walla Walla Subbasin supports two populations of native steelhead and multiple populations of bull trout, which are all listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and a reintroduced population of spring Chinook.  These populations are depressed relative to historic levels.  Prior to the initiation of CTUIR's and WDFW's projects funded by BPA, the subbasin co-managers did not have adequate information to assess adult abundance, distribution, age structure, genetic characteristics, adult to adult productivity, smolt to adult survivals, and natural spawning escapement.  In addition, numerous habitat protection and rehabilitation projects to improve salmonid freshwater production and survival have been implemented in the subbasin and they are in need of effectiveness monitoring.  While our monitoring efforts outlined here will not specifically measure the effectiveness of any particular project, they will provide much needed background information for developing context for project-specific effectiveness monitoring.  After the Walla Walla Hatchery (CTUIR hatchery) has added incubation and rearing facilities, the collaborators will increase the monitoring of the CTUIR spring Chinook hatchery program at the hatchery and in the Walla Walla and Touchet rivers as a larger part of this monitoring project.

The purpose of this collaborative project is to conduct natural production, habitat, and hatchery monitoring and evaluation. Our goal is to provide ecological information to decision makers in support of adaptive management for ESA recovery, population restoration, conservation, and preservation of cultural, social, and economic salmonid resources.  We do this by emphasizing monitoring of populations' status and trends and we emphasize estimating "adults in and juveniles out or fish in and fish out" for salmon and steelhead as a measure of population viability within the subbasin, and as part of the evaluation of the spring Chinook hatchery program.  We also monitor bull trout spawning distribution and the abundance of redds, as well as spawn timing and movements of PIT tagged individuals.

This collaborative effort is conducted by the CTUIR and WDFW as funded by the Columbia River Fish Accords through at least 2017.  Project goals and objectives were chosen to answer specific management questions regarding Viable Salmonid Population (VSP) parameters (McElhany et al. 2000) of abundance, productivity, spatial structure, and diversity for reintroduced spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and ESA-listed summer steelhead (O. mykiss), and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) in the Walla Walla Subbasin.  Project results help inform the Tribes' First Foods management within ceded lands, as well as state and federal salmonid management.

Project level performance indicators and metrics used to describe total abundance, productivity, distribution and life-cycle survival are intended to address the primary management questions based on the Draft Adaptive Management and Research, Monitoring and Evaluation of the SE WA Salmon Recovery Plan (see Appendix C, SRSRB 2011).  Primary monitoring questions 1 and 3 of that Appendix are most directly associated with this project.  Those questions are: "Is the status of the population/ ESU/DPS improving?" and "Are hatchery programs meeting specific mitigation goals?"  We used the following primary management questions derived from Appendix C (SRSRB 2011) to guide our reporting of status and trends.
- Is the abundance of adult fish trending towards restoration goals for each population?
- Is the population productivity of fish trending towards restoration goals for each population?
- What is the spatial structure of each population?
- What are the major life history strategies for each population?
- Are populations viable or meeting mitigation goals?

Project level performance indicators and metrics used to describe total abundance, productivity and life-cycle survival include:
Adult abundance (metric and method)
• Spawning escapement (spawning surveys and/or adult counts at dams, weir and traps)
• Total population abundance (Pit-tag detection system, adult counts at dams, weir and traps)
• Fish per redd (spawning surveys and/or adult counts at dams, weir and traps)
• Redds per mile (spawning surveys)

Production and life-cycle survival (metric and method)
• Population level smolt production annually from the Walla Walla and Touchet watersheds (Pit-tag detection system)
• Smolts per Redd (Pit-tag detection system, rotary trapping, spawning surveys)
• Survival & Run Timing (Pit-tag detection system & rotary trapping)
• Smolt to Adult Return (Pit-tag detection system, rotary trapping, adult counts, and spawning surveys)
• Adult to adult return (spawning surveys and/or adult counts at dams, weir and traps)

Project field methods were adapted from the Salmonid Field Protocols Handbook (Johnson et al. 2007) to collect a few key fish population indicators (see Crawford and Rumsey 2009).  For adults-in our main population metric is adult abundance estimated at counting stations at dams or at traps, or in some cases through use of spawning surveys (depending on the species and location).  The primary population productivity indicators are natural origin adult abundance and Adult to Adult Return (AAR) based on spawning escapement. The composition of adult returns regarding origins of the fish and age and size structure are also important metrics.   In the future, our long-term objective is to establish adult enumeration sites in the lower Walla Walla River (WWR) to better estimate total adult returns.  For juveniles out, our primary indicators are smolt abundance and smolt to adult returns (SARs).

Project Work Elements include: adult enumeration, spawning surveys, PIT-tagging, outmigrant monitoring, juvenile production monitoring.  However, we also collect water temperature and flow data because they are such major factors determining salmonid distributions, survival and production.  We believe these monitoring and evaluation actions meet the highest priorities for fish population monitoring as identified by the Walla Walla Subbasin Plan (Walla Walla County 2004), the Middle Columbia River Steelhead Distinct Population Segment Recovery Plan (NMFS 2009), Snake River  Salmon and Steelhead Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for Southeast Washington (Appendix C in SRSRB 2011), the Independent Science Review Panel, the Council’s draft Columbia River Basin Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Reporting Plan (MERR 2010), the NOAA Draft Guidance for Monitoring Recovery of Salmon and Steelhead (NOAA 2009), and Draft Anadromous Salmonid Monitoring Strategy (ASMS, 2010).

Project work emphasizes Mill Creek, and the Walla Walla and Touchet rivers, and is coordinated with local stakeholders whenever possible (e.g. ODFW, USFWS, USACE, USFS, the Walla Walla Watershed Council, Snake River Salmon Recovery Board, local irrigation districts, Tri-state Steelheaders, and other public and private groups).