Bear Valley Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork Salmon River in central Idaho, is an important spawning and rearing stream for Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and is an equally important traditional use area for members of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (Tribes) of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Past counts of Chinook salmon redds indicate Bear Valley Creek was the primary spawning stream in the Salmon River, if not in the entire Columbia River basin (Konopacky et al. 1986). Redd counts typically numbered over 1,000 in the mid-1950's (Schwartzberg and Roger 1986) but dropped to only three by 1995 (Anderson et al. 2001). Information collected by the Bear Valley Creek Chinook Salmon Abundance Monitoring Project (BRCAMP) suggests the population is dwindling in overall abundance as there has been a decline in returning adults to the watershed in recent years (2016 - 2022).

Understanding the limiting factors that are either preventing or facilitating salmon recovery is necessary to make resource management decisions. Overall, productivity and abundance of Chinook salmon in Bear Valley falls below the 25% extinction risk threshold curve, indicating that the population is at a high risk of extinction (ICTRT 2007b). As such, the Tribes developed the Bear Valley Creek Chinook Salmon Abundance Monitoring Project to provide critical biological information from one of the last relatively robust wild populations in the Columbia River basin.

Tribal, state, and federal fish and wildlife managers identified the Bear Valley Creek Chinook salmon population for viable salmonid population (VSP) attribute monitoring at the Columbia Basin Coordinated Anadromous Monitoring Workshops (2010). VSP monitoring assesses population abundance, productivity, spatial structure, and diversity (McElhany et al. 2000) and consists of several interrelated performance metrics (e.g., recruits per spawner, spawner abundance) that facilitate monitoring of both short- and long-term population trends. As such, these performance metrics and encompassing VSP attributes are important for identifying threats, limiting factors, and re-directing conservation efforts. In addition, given its historical importance to Tribal fisheries and as a natural production area for Chinook salmon, the Bear Valley Creek population is recognized for ESA recovery monitoring by NOAA Fisheries and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s (NPCC) Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research Plan. Moreover, the population of Chinook salmon in Bear Valley Creek is identified in the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ Salmon River Tribal Resource Management Plan (Denny et al. 2010) as an indicator population for guiding Tribal harvest management decisions.

The Tribes are monitoring the Chinook salmon population in Bear Valley Creek to contribute to the recovery of the Snake River spring/summer Chinook Salmon Endangered Species Unit (ESU). The project goal is to collect highly accurate and precise VSP attribute data with known accuracy and precision, for examination of status, trend and critical uncertainties research. The VSP attribute data includes performance metrics associated with abundance, productivity, spatial structure, and diversity.

BRCAMP will evaluate the status of the Chinook salmon population through annual evaluations of juvenile and adult production and thereby contribute to long-term population monitoring. This information will also assist in identifying critical uncertainties related to salmon recovery and provide necessary information for the assessment of VSP performance metrics and standards on the Bear Valley population of Chinook salmon and Crystal Springs hatchery management decisions.