Mission

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes will pursue, promote, and where necessary, initiate efforts to rehabilitate fish and wildlife habitat in the Snake River Basin and affected unoccupied lands to a more natural condition.  This includes the rehabilitation of component resources to conditions that closely represent the ecological integrity of natural riverine ecosystems.  As such, the Salmon River Basin Nutrient Enhancement (SRBNE) project will pursue an ecosystem-based restoration approach to increase aquatic habitat complexity and aquatic habitat productivity through the addition of marine-derived subsidies (e.g., live Chinook Salmon, Chinook Salmon carcasses, steelhead trout carcasses, Salmon Carcass Analogs, and/or inorganic N and P) and habitat forming, natural in-stream materials (e.g., large wood), or other process-based habitat actions, to address identified limiting factors.  By merging physical habitat actions with marine-derived subsidies, the SRBNE project addresses identified limiting factors and supports the ecological integrity (chemical, physical, and biological) of tributary habitats in the Upper Salmon River Basin.  In addition, the SRBNE project and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes work to ensure the protection, preservation, and where appropriate, the enhancement of Rights reserved by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes under the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868 and any inherent aboriginal rights.

Vision and Goals of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Fish and Wildlife Department

“The Tribes will pursue, promote, and where necessary, initiate efforts to restore the Snake River systems and affected unoccupied lands to a natural condition.  This includes the restoration of component resources to conditions which most closely represent the ecological features associated with a natural riverine ecosystem.  In addition, the Tribes will work to ensure the protection , preservation, and where appropriate the enhancement of Rights reserved by the Tribes under the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868 and any inherent aboriginal rights.”

Goal 1)  Restoration of Traditional Social-Ecological Systems
The Tribes envision a healthy ecosystem that includes productive, functional watersheds and diverse, self-sustaining fish and wildlife populations.  Guided by traditional ecological knowledge and systems of management, the Tribes will leverage generations of interdependence with salmon and multigenerational placed based knowledge to center social-ecological systems in process-based principles for restoring river ecosystems that support culturally and ecologically resilient fisheries.

Goal 2)  Traditional Fishing Opportunities
The Tribes seek to revitalize traditional systems of salmon management and restore significant place-based fishing opportunities informed by tygi/hoawai (to hunt) practices that integrate intergenerational-learning and traditional teachings.  In doing so, the Tribes will support collaborative pathways toward effective and socially just conservation and resource management.

Goal 3)  Connection with and Protection of Cultural, Ecological, and Social Values and Rights
Salmon and steelhead are integral to the culture and society of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.  Through traditional systems of salmon management, the Tribes will highlight social-ecological systems and stewardship practices that protect, enhance, and restore our culture, spiritual beliefs, families, and ecological communities.  The Tribes will honor our traditional stories about lands, waterways, animals, and plants through our language, cultural values, and tygi/hoawai.  In doing so, the Tribes will actively participate in sustainable fisheries and support healthy fishing communities.

Background

Pacific salmon, steelhead trout, and Pacific lamprey are essential cultural, economic, and ecological resources throughout the Pacific Northwest (PNW).  Historically, returns of anadromous fishes conditioned physical habitats (Moore 2006) and provided pulsed allochthonous subsidies (i.e., nutrients and organic materials) to inland aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (Wipfli and Baxter 2010).  Currently, declining returns of anadromous fishes are associated with reduced marine-derived nutrient (MDN) subsidies and diminished ecosystem productivities that may constrain contemporary habitat carrying capacities (Alldredge et al. 2015).  Due to factors such as habitat degradation and loss, commercial harvest, hatchery production, and hydro-system development, historically abundant anadromous fish returns have been eliminated or have declined dramatically across large spatial scales (Lichatowich 1999).  It is now estimated that spawning Pacific salmon and steelhead trout contribute just 6%-7% of the MDN historically delivered to PNW streams and rivers (Gresh et al. 2000).

The Salmon River Basin Nutrient Enhancement project collects chemical, physical, and biological data to evaluate the efficacy of marine-derived nutrient additions (e.g., live Chinook Salmon, Chinook Salmon carcasses, or Salmon Carcass Analogs) and habitat actions (e.g., large wood additions and salmon subsidies) designed to increase freshwater productivity and the growth and survival of stream-dwelling salmonids in the upper Salmon River Basin.  Specific project objectives include the quantification and assessment of: streamwater nutrient concentrations; nutrient limitation; biofilm standing stock; macroinvertebrate (benthic and drift) density, biomass, and community composition; salmonid fish abundance, biomass, growth, and community composition; river metabolism measures; stable isotope measures (biofilm, macroinvertebrate, and fish); and aquatic food web connections in streams receiving nutrient additions and/or physical habitat actions and reference streams that do not receive these forms of management actions.  In addition, the SRBNE project is directly involved in efforts to identify, prioritize, implement, monitor, and evaluate habitat and production efforts to support recovery efforts and traditional cultural practices.

Goals and Objectives

Actions proposed under this project address habitat metrics identified in the 2020 Biological Opinion for the Continued Operation and Maintenance of the Columbia River System (NOAA Fisheries 2020) and focus on limiting factors in tributaries of the Yankee Fork Salmon River watershed.  Habitat actions have been planned and designed to restore the physical, hydraulic, and ecological integrity of freshwater spawning and rearing habitats for ESA listed resident (Salvelinus confluentus) and anadromous (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha; Oncorynchus mykiss) fishes.  The specific, short-term goal of this work has been to implement effective and innovative approaches to salmon habitat restoration that directly address limiting factors and increase freshwater productivity and habitat carrying capacity.  The long-term goal of this work is to: foster collaboration with State and Federal natural resource managers; generate sound, scientific information relevant to the protection and restoration of aquatic and linked riparian ecosystems; and assess the efficacy of implemented habitat actions at improving habitat conditions and fish production in the Yankee Fork Salmon River (YFSR) watershed.  

Specific objectives include: 1) identify, assess, measure, and model limiting factors and ecological concerns identified in: a) the Yankee Fork Tributary Assessment Upper Salmon Subbasin (Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) 2012); b) the Yankee Fork Fluvial Habitat Rehabilitation Plan (BOR 2013); c) the Salmon Subbasin Management Plan (Ecovista 2004); d) the 2020 Biological Opinion for the Continued Operation and Maintenance of the Columbia River System (NOAA Fisheries 2020), e) the Yankee Fork Salmon River Interdisciplinary Team Project Prioritization Framework (Draft 5-Year Plan (2024); and f) the Aquatic Trophic Productivity and Life Cycle Modeling; 2) participate in a collaborative process via the Yankee Fork Salmon River Interdisciplinary Team (YFSR IDT) to identify, rank, select, and implement habitat actions; 3) identify and assess impaired habitats using comparisons to reference conditions within watersheds or from other regionally appropriate areas; and 4) use comparisons between impaired habitat and least disturbed reference conditions to implement and monitor appropriate habitat actions and to develop goals and empirical (i.e., measurable) objectives for specific habitat action plans. Yankee Fork Salmon River ID Team members include, but are not limited to, the SBT, USFS, TU, WSI, BPA, NOAA, USFWS, and IDFG.

Habitat actions (e.g., Eightmile Creek instream complexity improvements implemented in the 2019-2020 contracts) are intended to directly address identified limiting factors and are planned in association with monitoring to empirically demonstrate the change in habitat quantity and quality as a result of habitat actions and to assess potential salmonid fish community responses.  Habitat action monitoring and evaluations include sampling before, during, and after each habitat action project.  Habitat action monitoring includes physical, chemical, and biological measures, as well as functional measures (e.g., stream metabolism), to inform managers whether actions increased habitat quality and quantity or not.  Project data are shared with the YFSR IDT and are integrated into the Yankee Fork planning and prioritization process to help identify and sequence implementation of habitat actions in various reaches of the YFSR watershed.

In 2024-2025 the SRBNE project will continue to coordinate with the YFSR IDT and associated SBT projects to assess, model, plan, and implement habitat and production actions that address limiting factors in tributary habitats of the YFSR and increase the abundance and productivity of ESA-listed species.  In order to effectively identify, prioritize, and select potential habitat restoration projects at the watershed scale, the YFSR IDT will rely heavily on a rigorous M & E framework.  To this end, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Status and Trend Monitoring Plan (draft; in preparation) for ESA (Endangered Species Act) listed and native resident salmonids will provide a comprehensive and systematic approach to assess the health and population dynamics of these critical fish species and also monitor linked terrestrial and aquatic habitats.  The plan will integrate both field and laboratory methods to gather data on population abundance and productivity, community composition, distribution, genetic diversity, and habitat conditions. Regular population monitoring through techniques such as electrofishing, snorkel surveys, PIT tag arrays, spawning ground surveys, adult weir and juvenile RST monitoring, and genetic sampling (e.g., tissue and eDNA) will enable a real-time assessment of population status and trends.  Additionally, environmental and ecosystem parameters like water temperature, discharge, nutrient concentrations, food web productivity, trophic status, and habitat quantity and quality will be monitored.  The plan will incorporate a robust data analysis framework to identify patterns and trends over time.  A critical component of this monitoring effort is also the identification of limiting factors (i.e., Limiting Factor Analysis), which involves identifying and addressing factors that may be constraining the recovery of salmonid populations.  Factors such as habitat degradation, pollution, climate change impacts, and human activities are assessed to determine their influence on the species' overall well-being.  The analysis aids in the development of targeted conservation strategies and adaptive management practices to mitigate the identified limiting factors and enhance the resilience of ESA-listed and native resident salmonids.  Regular updates and reviews (e.g., YFSR IDT meetings) help to ensure the plan's effectiveness and adaptability in the face of evolving ecological and social challenges.  Project staff will continue to concurrently evaluate the importance of marine-derived nutrients, primary productivity, and secondary and tertiary production to the quantity and quality of habitats supporting native resident and Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed fishes in the upper Salmon River Basin.  

Habitat actions in 2024-2025 will include the addition of marine-derived nutrient subsidies such as live Chinook Salmon, Chinook Salmon carcasses, steelhead trout carcasses, and/or Salmon Carcass Analogs.  Out-year planning includes the addition of habitat-forming natural material in-stream structures such as large wood, as well as other process-based restoration techniques.  Large wood, or natural-material in-stream structure additions, will combine with stream flows and salmon subsides (i.e., marine-derived nutrients) to create the processes that: increase coarse sediment storage, retain and sort gravel and cobble substrates for spawning habitat, improve flow heterogeneity, provide diverse stream velocities, increase stream depth complexity, increase habitat complexity, increase fish cover, provide refugia for fish during high flows, provide long-term nutrient storage and substrate for aquatic macroinvertebrates, increase retention of leaf litter, and retain fine and coarse organic matter (energy and nutrients).  The combination of these actions will promote the ecological integrity of YFSR tributary habitats and increase primary, secondary, and tertiary production.  In concert, these physical and functional habitat outcomes will increase freshwater productivity and the growth and survival of resident and anadromous ESA listed species.  These actions are intended to support viable salmonid population parameters and will hopefully increase Tribal harvest opportunities.

All habitat assessments, habitat action planning, and habitat action implementation will be done in collaboration and coordination with the YFSR IDT.  All habitat actions will follow BPA HIP guidelines and conservation measures.  Through this collaborative process, the SRBNE project will work to identify limiting factors and habitat impairments and to select, prioritize, and implement future habitat actions.  Implemented projects will have robust monitoring plans in place to help inform managers of specific project outcomes and to effectively utilize an adaptive management approach guided by lessons learned.

The 2024-2025 contract will include coordination with other SBT and contractor lead projects in the YFSR to monitor habitat and fish populations, analyze data collected in previous contract cycles, assess habitat action implementation (e.g., EMC), and assist with SBT production efforts and associated monitoring and evaluation (e.g., eggbox outplants and progeny production/productivity).

Coordination efforts include, but are not limited to:

1)  Salmon subsidy additions
2)  Electrofishing surveys
3)  Development of status and trend (fish in fish out) updates, modeling tools, and data dashboard tools
4)  Chinook Salmon redd surveys
5)  Habitat evaluations (e.g., NV5 Geospatial TIR modeling to characterize winter thermal conditions)
6)  Project selection, prioritization, and implementation plan development and refinement
7)  Production efforts such as Chinook Salmon eggbox outplants and associated monitoring and evaluations

Relevant Project Peer-Reviewed Publications:

•    Stream food web response to a salmon carcass analogue addition in two central Idaho, U.S.A. streams

Andre E. Kohler*, Amanda Rugenski†, Doug Taki*
*Shoshone Bannock Tribes, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Fort Hall, ID, U.S.A.
†Idaho State University, Stream Ecology Center, Pocatello, ID, U.S.A.
Freshwater Biology (2008) 53: 446–460; doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.2007.01909.x
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2266089/

•    Macroinvertebrate response to salmon carcass analogue treatments: exploring the relative influence of nutrient enrichment, stream foodweb, and environmental variables

Andre E. Kohler and Doug Taki
Shoshone Bannock Tribes, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Fort Hall, Idaho 83203 USA
J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 2010, 29(2): 690–710; 2010 by The North American Benthological Society; DOI: 10.1899/09-091.1; Published online: 6 April 2010
http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1899/09-091.1

•    Nutrient Enrichment with Salmon Carcass Analogs in the Columbia River Basin, USA: A Stream Food Web Analysis

Andre E. Kohler, Todd N. Pearsons, Joseph S. Zendt, Matthew G. Mesa, Christopher L. Johnson, Patrick J. Connolly
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 141: 802–824, 2012
American Fisheries Society 2012
DOI: 10.1080/00028487.2012.676380
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00028487.2012.676380#.VS0klPBi_64

•    Salmon-mediated nutrient flux in selected streams of the Columbia River basin, USA

Andre E. Kohler, Paul C. Kusnierz, Timothy Copeland, David A. Venditti, Lytle Denny, Josh Gable, Bert A. Lewis, Ryan Kinzer, Bruce Barnett, Mark S. Wipfli
Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 70: 502–512 (2013) dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2012-0347
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfas-2012-0347#.VS0j8_Bi_64

•    Biofilm nutrient limitation, metabolism, and standing crop responses to experimental application of salmon carcass analog in Idaho streams

Jonathan D. Ebel, Amy M. Marcarelli, Andre E. Kohler
Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 71: 1-9 (2014) dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2014-0266
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfas-2014-0266 - .VS0it_Bi_65

•    Bioenergetic calculations evaluate changes to habitat quality for salmonid fishes in streams treated with salmon carcass analog

Ernest R Keeley, Steven O Campbell, Andre E. Kohler
Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 73: 1–13 (2016) dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2015-0265
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1139/cjfas-2015-0265

•    The fate of marine-derived nutrients: tracing d13C and d15N through oligotrophic freshwater and linked riparian ecosystems following salmon carcass analog additions

David P. Richardson, Andre E. Kohler, Million Hailemichael, and Bruce P. Finney
Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 73: 1–15 (2016) dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2015-050
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/cjfas-2015-0500#.WFLofpJzYzk

•    Salmon-mediated nutrient flux in Snake River sockeye salmon nursery lakes: the influence of depressed population size and hatchery supplementation

Melissa L. Evans, Andre E. Kohler, Robert G. Griswold, Kurt A. Tardy, Kendra R. Eaton, and Jonathan D. Ebel
Lake and Reservoir Management (2019).
http://doi.org/10.1080/10402391.2019.1654571