The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (CTWSRO) will develop and execute the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon Habitat Restoration Program (CTWSHRP).  This program will focus on projects aimed at improving instream habitat along with holistic watershed restoration directed at factors limiting salmonid production.  Projects will occur mostly on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.  

Projects will target four limiting factors including habitat complexity and quantity, fine sediment, water temperature and altered hydrology.  These projects will be tiered to the Deschutes River Subbasin Plan, and the Mid-Columbia Steelhead Recovery Plan.  All of the projects will focus on the Tribes goal of sustaining harvestable levels of fish for many generations.  The limiting factors were developed using guidance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries (NMFS) matrix indicator methods for making Endangered Species Determinations and were linked with biological monitoring and production data collected by Tribal Fisheries staff on the Reservation.

Instream and watershed restoration projects are important in this portion of the Deschutes Basin for several reasons.  The 660,000 acre Warm Springs Indian Reservation provides critical habitat for wild populations of spring Chinook salmon, Mid-Columbia summer steelhead, bull trout, redband trout, Pacific lamprey, and a variety of other native non-salmonid species.  Protection and maintenance of these populations is important to Tribal culture and future harvest opportunities.  The new regulatory license agreement for the Pelton-Round Butte Hydroelectric Complex (~river mile 100) requires the co-owners to reintroduce salmon and steelhead into the upper Deschutes Basin.  The populations downstream of the hydro complex on the Reservation will provide the donor stock for rebuilding the populations upstream.      

The CTWSHRP will continue to use funding from the recent Memorandum of Agreement between the Tribes and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) matched with funding from the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF), the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB), the Pelton-Round Butte Fund, and other competitive sources to execute prioritized restoration on the Reservation.  

In 2018 the Tribes developed an Aquatic Restoration Strategy that included a scoring matrix that was used to identify high priority watersheds and subwatersheds within the Reservation where restoration actions have the highest potential to restore and enhance high quality ecological conditions.  Through this process 34 sub watersheds across the Reservation are evaluated for Fish Use, Habitat Condition, Water Quality, and Climate Change Resiliency.  Scores were assigned to these variables and a tiered ranking system was established to prioritize high, medium, and low priority sub watersheds for restoration potential.  Through this process 40 conceptual projects were scored and renamed throughout the sub watersheds, eighteen projects were recommended for further engineering review and 2 final designs for high ranking projects were completed.  Fish habitat Program staff will further develop these concept projects and match them with suitable cost share sources on the path toward implementation.      

Projects will be planned by Tribal staff from the Fish Habitat Program, designed by the NRCS or other technical assistance providers, and implemented by both Tribal and non-tribal contractors.  All projects will pass through the Tribe’s Integrated Resource Management Planning process and complete the required Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation.

During this contract period (March 1, 2019 - February 28th 2020)  Staff will continue long-term maintenance of the riparian fence protection network, and construct another protection fence that will protect a spring from  livestock overuse and reduce erosion directly into Coyote Creek.  Fundraising and planning will occur for projects scheduled for implementation through 2023.  Several grant applications to secure cost share funding will be submitted, and project tours will be given to secure these funds.  New staff will be hired and trained to prepare for implementation of these upcoming projects.  Baseline data will be collected from the monitoring wells within the the Log Springs Meadow to determine pre-project groundwater levels.      

Due to the elimination of BPA's CHaMP and AEM programs, the extensive staff time and cost associated with this monitoring work, loss of previous trained staff,  lack of travel funding for trainings of this kind, and the need for higher priority work to be designed and implemented the Tribal staff do not plan to continue this monitoring effort.  Biological effectiveness monitoring of populations will be conducted at the watershed scale.