Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) have been an important part of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes way of life for generations, not only as a food source but as an integral piece of their cultural ideology and identity.  Tribal member yearly migration patterns were timed to coincide with the return of Chinook salmon to the Upper Salmon River basin.  The East Fork of the Salmon River and Valley Creek, tributaries of the Salmon River, located in central Idaho were important “hunting” grounds but have seen a steep decline in fish numbers since the early to mid-1900’s.
  
The Shoshone Bannock Tribes are heavily invested in the survival and restoration of Chinook salmon runs to the Upper Salmon River Basin.  The SMCCS program has chosen to monitor and evaluate the salmon populations in the East Fork Salmon River and Valley Creek due to their strong historical, ceremonial, and subsistence bonds to the Shoshone Bannock Tribes.
  
The recent completion of ISS project operations, a 23 year study, provided the necessary research to measure the benefits and consequences of supplementation programs on target and non-target species in order to provide guidance for future programs.   A few key findings of ISS show that population responses such as an increase in number of redds, emigrants at screw traps, and smolts at Lower Granite Dam (LGR) were most noticeable from natural-origin female spawners and smolt releases as opposed to hatchery fish and other juvenile life stages.  It was determined that as the number of females supplemented in a stream increased, productivity also increased but only to a point before an excess of spawners, particularly non-treatment hatchery fish, began to exacerbate productivity, hence abundance does not equal productivity (Venditti et al. 2015).

The Tribes will continue researching the barriers inhibiting the increase of Chinook numbers returning to the Upper Salmon River Basin with the SMCCS project.  With the collection of data in the East Fork Salmon River and Valley Creek, the Tribes goal is to identify the controllable factors limiting the recovery of Snake River spring/summer Chinook Salmon populations in order to develop a viable recovery management plan.  Data gathered will be used to estimate total migration, migration timing, survival, adult spawner escapement, and pre-spawn mortalities to provide or validate pre-season forecasts, in-season updates, and harvest management guidelines.  Fish tagging and marking play important roles in stock assessment, research, management, and recovery of salmonid and other fishes in the Basin.  Results from tagging investigations influence decisions on hydrosystem management such as water spill at dams and fish transport; harvest regimes in the ocean and river; hatchery practices; and endangered species risk assessment (Alldredge, J.R., et al.  2009).  Year-to-year trends will be identified using data collected as well as conducting critical uncertainties research to provide the necessary information for the assessment of performance metrics and standards.

The SMCCS program will evaluate habitat actions in the East Fork and Valley Creek including bank stabilization, river complexity, and degraded habitat to assist potential recovery actions and strategies.  In addition, the program will continue to monitor hatchery strays and their influence on the population as well as develop a plan to reduce competitive brook trout populations.  Natural juvenile life history characteristics (i.e., size, fitness, timing) from both populations will be used as a benchmark to establish proper management release goals for the Crystal Springs Hatchery.      

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes collect data from juvenile Chinook salmon at the East Fork Salmon River and Valley Creek Salmon River in order to satisfy Work Elements E, F, G, H, I and J.  We also collect adult data from East Fork Salmon River, Valley Creek, and Bear Valley Watershed (tributary to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River which includes Bear Valley Creek and Elk Creek).  These activities are detailed in Work Elements K, L, M and N.