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A Proposal is an application to continue existing work or start new work. While historically the Program solicited for all types of projects at once, starting in fiscal year 2009, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and BPA are reviewing and soliciting for projects that are similar in nature and intent. These "categorical" reviews started with Wildlife projects and continue with Research, Monitoring, & Evaluation (RME) and Artificial Production (Hatchery) projects.
 | RESCAT-1995-004-00 | Proposal Version 1 | Existing Project | Pending BPA Response | 1995-004-00 | Libby Reservoir Mitigation Restoration and Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RM&E) | Project 1995-004-00 coordinates state hydro-power mitigation activities in Libby Reservoir and the Kootenai River watershed intended to ameliorate loss and harm to fisheries caused by Libby Dam. The project is implemented by employees of Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) assigned to work groups that accomplish a variety of project tasks. By intention, most work accomplished now informs new efforts each year. Project activities are diverse; their timeframes and duration vary. Some objectives are accomplished within a contract year; some take many years to complete. Our project today developed from work dating back to 1982, when initial efforts to assess the effects of dam construction, reservoir filling, and dam operations on fish populations and lower trophic levels in Libby Reservoir began. This work defined a relationship between reservoir operation and biological productivity, and incorporated the results in computer models collectively known by the acronym LRMOD. Preliminary outputs from the LRMOD models suggested integrated rule curves (IRCs, originally called Biological Rule Curves) for dam operations designed to minimize harmful dam effects, primarily by encouraging operations that maximized and promoted biological productivity. These IRCs, first published in 1989 (Fraley et al. 1989), were adopted by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC) in 1994. The initial IRCs were later refined by Marotz et al. (1996 and 1999). Full implementation of these suggested operations first occurred in 2008. Over the years Project 1995-004-00 also established a long-term database to monitor population trends for kokanee, bull trout, westslope cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, burbot and other native fish species. Long-term monitoring programs of zooplankton and their trophic relationships were similarly established. A model was calibrated to estimate the entrainment of fish and zooplankton through Libby Dam as related to hydro-operations and use of the selective withdrawal structure. Research on fish entrainment through the Libby Dam penstocks began in 1990, with results published in 1996 (Skaar et al. 1996). The effects of river fluctuations on portions of the Kootenai River burbot fishery were examined in 1994 and 1995. The effects of dam operation on benthic macroinvertebrates in the Kootenai River were also assessed (Hauer and Stanford 1997) for comparison with conditions measured in the past (Perry and Huston 1983). This study was replicated in 2005 with the addition of examining the effect of a nuisance diatom (Didymosphenia geminata) on the benthic community (Marshall 2007). Work on this project has identified important spawning and rearing tributaries and conducted genetic inventories in the Montana portion of the Kootenai Watershed for bull, westslope cutthroat, and redband trout. We developed non-lethal genetic methodologies to differentiate between native redband trout and non-native rainbow trout (Brunelli et al. 2008), and a non-lethal genetic methodology to identify natal tributary origin for bull trout in the upper Kootenai Watershed and quantify bull trout entrainment at Libby Dam (Ardren et al. 2007). Research on the effects of operations on the river fishery using IFIM techniques was initiated in 1992. The results of this study were recently finalized and upgraded with the incorporation of GIS technology (Miller and Geise 2004). The final result was a model capable of graphically and numerically quantifying weighted usable area for juvenile and adult rainbow trout and bull trout in the Kootenai River for a wide range of discharges. In 1998, collaborative efforts of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho (KTOI), and MFWP that quantified fisheries losses caused by the construction and operation of Libby Dam, that recommended site-specific mitigation actions, and that suggested monitoring strategies over time, were published as the Fisheries mitigation and implementation plan for losses attributable to the construction and operation of Libby Dam (MFWP et al. 1998). Adopted and approved by NPCC soon after its publication, the Libby mitigation and implementation plan, along with subsequent development of the Kootenai Subbasin Plan (MFWP and KTOI 2004) continue to inform actions needed to ameliorate harm and compensate fisheries losses associated with the construction and operation of Libby Dam. Specific mitigation activities each year are selected and prioritized based largely on decision pathways described in the Kootenai Subbasin Plan. Work activities and deliverables are reviewed and approved for funding within the guidelines of NPCC process, and each year in our Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) contract proposals. Our project currently focuses on improving conditions for native fish survival and recovery in the Libby Reservoir and Kootenai River system. Our work activities within this proposal are organized by the following objectives: • Restore riparian habitats, • Reduce tributary fine sediments, • Restore and maintain tributary fish passage, • Improve tributary channel stability, • Improve tributary habitat diversity, • Monitor trend/status of resident fish • Estimate growth, survival and source of origin of Kootenai River trout, • Identify factors influencing the distribution and abundance of a nuisance diatom, and • Suppress and prevent expansions of non-native fish We approach perpetuating existing sustainable native fish populations and their habitat by several activities including habitat improvement, restoration of fish passage and control of exotic species. We also monitor fish population trends and status more directly using a variety of conventional fisheries estimators (capture/recapture, CPUE, tag and trap information) for focal species in the reservoir, main river, and tributary systems of the Kootenai. We continually monitor and assess the efficacy of completed mitigation activities, particularly stream habitat projects. Similar work identified in this proposal includes evaluations of physical features at previous and proposed stream restoration sites. The ultimate goal of each of these projects is to promote stream bank stability and increase habitat diversity within the treatment area and to increase in these cases resident salmonid populations. To realize a significant increase at the fish population level, the physical changes to the landscape accomplished through the restoration work must be substantially sustained through time. Combined with other considerations of fish life cycle and ongoing landscape level disturbances and development, we anticipate the need to intermittently monitor restoration projects for ten years or longer to adequately evaluate the effectiveness of specific treatment strategies. We regularly collect, analyze and interpret a variety of other information needed for the conservation and recovery of native resident fish species. We propose to continue a project initiated in 2011 that uses genetic technologies to describe the genetic diversity and predict origin of rainbow trout residing in the Kootenai River. These results will allow us to estimate the relative contribution of recruitment to the Kootenai River below Libby Dam from several sources. Bull trout redd counts will be counted in core area tributaries including the Wigwam River, Quartz, Grave, West Fork Quartz, Pipe, Keeler and Obrien Creeks in the U.S. and Canada. Redd counts have been the principal bull trout monitoring tool since 1983 (Dalbey et al. 1997). They provide useful trend monitoring for relative estimates of bull trout spawning escapement. We also propose to estimate annual growth and survival for rainbow and cutthroat trout in three sections of the Kootenai River based on electrofishing surveys. We will determine Burbot relative abundance within the stilling basin downstream of Libby Dam and within Koocanusa Reservoir using a standardized catch rate (average catch per trap day) as an index of abundance to compare trends across years. We will assist Idaho Fish and Game and the KTOI in efficacy monitoring of the Ecosystem Restoration Project (Kootenai River Idaho fertilization) by collecting fish at a control site located in the Montana portion of the Kootenai River. We will also use gillnets to assess annual trends in fish populations and species composition in Libby Reservoir. Similarly, we regularly collect, analyze and interpret a variety of other information needed to investigate the factors limiting the production and recruitment of salmonid populations in the Libby Reservoir and the Kootenai River system. Proposed work activities include collecting zooplankton from the reservoir to relate changes in density and structure of those communities to parameters of other aquatic communities, as well as to collect data indicative of reservoir processes, including reservoir aging and the effects of dam operations. We will also perform McNeil substrate coring in association with bull trout red counts to determine status and trend indicators for bull trout populations over time. Results of all work are disseminated in publications, and at public and professional meetings. | James Dunnigan | 09/27/2011 | 02/26/2014 | James Dunnigan | Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) | Programmatic | None | Resident Fish, Regional Coordination, and Data Management Category Review | Resident Fish, Regional Coordination, and Data Management Categorical Review | BiOp |
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