 | NPCC19-2008-524-00 | Proposal Version 2 | Existing Project | ISRP - Pending Final Review | 2008-524-00 | Implement Tribal Pacific Lamprey Restoration Plan | The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), through the Implement the Tribal Pacific Lamprey Restoration Plan project (Project), is focused on implementing the six objectives contained within the Tribal Pacific Lamprey Restoration Plan (TPLRP, CRITFC 2011). Pacific Lamprey are of great importance to tribes throughout the Columbia River basin (CRB) for cultural, spiritual, ceremonial, medicinal, subsistence, and ecological reasons. Unfortunately, Pacific Lamprey return to the CRB at a fraction of their historical numbers due to a variety of known and unknown threats.
The Tribes and other regional partners aim to have Pacific Lamprey widely distributed within the CRB in numbers that fully provide for ecological, tribal cultural and harvest values. The CRITFC Project is designed and implemented to contribute to this primary goal.
Restoration of Pacific Lamprey in the Columbia River basin is both culturally and ecologically important. Pacific Lamprey have declined in abundance in the CRB over the last 80 years. From a tribal perspective, the effects of Pacific Lamprey decline include: 1) loss of an important nutritional source, 2) loss of harvest opportunities in traditional harvest areas, and 3) necessity to travel large distances to lower Columbia River tributaries to harvest lamprey (e.g., the Willamette River). The cultural loss due to lamprey declines is profound with many young tribal members losing opportunities to learn historically important legends and preparation techniques associated with lamprey. Pacific Lamprey are also important ecologically because they provide marine derived nutrients to the riverine environment and the aquatic and terrestrial food web and provide a high-value prey source for various marine and freshwater species.
The Synthesis of Threats, Critical Uncertainties, and Limiting Factors in Relation to Past, Present, and Future Priority Restoration Actions for Pacific Lamprey in the Columbia River Basin ([Synthesis], Synthesis 2017, ISRP 2018-2) provides an overview of Pacific Lamprey within the CRB (Section 2), summarizes the current state of lamprey science (Section 6.1), and outlines the remaining restoration, research, and monitoring needs (Section 6.2). The Synthesis highlights that a significant amount of progress has been made within the CRB and throughout the range of Pacific Lamprey, monitoring status and trends of lamprey population segments, identifying limiting factors, critical uncertainties, and risks associated with CRB lamprey declines, adaptively prioritizing future actions and/or action paths, and updating and synthesizing the current state of lamprey science (Synthesis 2017). The CRITFC Project has contributed significantly to these efforts (Synthesis, Section 4.1.4). Within the Synthesis, based on regional efforts and project results since 2000, the CRITFC and its member tribes prioritized improving mainstem adult lamprey passage, improving passage within the tributary environment, developing and improving alternative passage routes and strategies, developing, improving, and implementing supplementation and restoration research activities, continuing to understand limiting factors and lamprey life history at all levels, strengthening lamprey outreach and education and continuing to identify, evaluate, and monitor status, trends, and distribution of lamprey within the Columbia River Basin (Synthesis 2017).
From 2019 through 2022, the CRITFC Project will be designed and implemented to primarily address CRITFC member tribe lamprey restoration priorities within the CRB and secondarily, to contribute to range-wide themes for restoration identified through the Lamprey Conservation Agreement (Synthesis Section 6.2.2) as well as research, monitoring, and evaluation needs identified through various technical working groups (Synthesis Sections 3 and 6.2.3). Consistent with the TPLRP (CRITFC 2011), project objectives will include:
1) Improve lamprey mainstem passage, survival and habitat
2) Improve tributary passage and identify, protect, and restore tributary habitat
3) Restore declining lamprey population segments by strategically releasing lamprey of all life history stages
4) Evaluate and reduce contaminant accumulation and improve water quality for lamprey in all life stages
5) Establish and implement a coordinated regional lamprey outreach and education program within the region
6) Conduct research, monitoring and evaluation of lamprey at all life history stages
To address Objectives 1 and 2, the CRITFC project will actively engage in regional forums and passage working groups (e.g. USACE/tribe working group, Mid-Columbia fish forums, Willamette Falls passage group) that identify structural and operational improvements to known passage problem areas, develop regional lamprey passage standards and metrics at mainstem and tributary hydroelectric projects, improve monitoring at all life history stages, develop and utilize adult/juvenile tag technology and other methods to obtain route-specific passage and survival at mainstem and tributary projects, understand lamprey life histories and impacts through temporal and spatial assessments of mainstem and estuary habitats, evaluate and reduce avian, piscivorous, and mammalian predation, and develop and implement best management practices relative to mainstem and tributary dredging activities.
To address Objective 3, the CRITFC project will actively engage tribal and regional technical working groups (e.g. CRITFC member tribe lamprey working group) to continue supporting tribal restoration efforts in accordance with tribal guidelines, to support implement lamprey translocation as a component of the Lamprey Master Plan, and support implementation of lamprey artificial propagation as a component the Lamprey Master Plan.
To address Objective 4, the CRITFC project will actively engage in tribal and regional technical working groups (e.g. CRITFC member tribe lamprey WG, LCA LTWG contaminant subgroup) that evaluate and update a literature review on the effects of toxics on lamprey, support and implement contaminant studies and assessments in partnership with other entities, and partner with appropriate entities and forums to reduce pollutants and chemical contaminants throughout the CRB.
To address Objective 5, the CRITFC project will actively engage in various tribal and regional forums (e.g. CRITFC Commission, CRITFC member tribe lamprey WG, LCA Lamprey Conservation Team) to update and implement a variety of outreach and education strategies, primarily within the CRB, to communicate the cultural and ecological importance of Pacific Lamprey, the consequences of their decline, and the need for short and long-term restoration efforts.
To address Objective 6, the CRITFC project will contribute to regional research, monitoring, and evaluation efforts by actively engaging in technical working groups (e.g. LCA Lamprey Technical Work Group), developing, supporting, and/or implementing regionally focused RME project elements that adaptively address priority and emerging research needs (e.g. genetics and population substructure, climate change impacts, marine life history, migration behavior, status, trends, occupancy, and distribution patterns, life history modeling, limiting factor and creative/applied solution analysis).
The CRITFC Project is closely administered and coordinated with the Accord Lamprey Projects by the Yakama Nation (YN), Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), and Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (CTWSRO), and by the Nez Perce Tribal (NPT) lamprey restoration project (non-Accord). The CRITFC Project is designed and implemented in close coordination with the BPA and the NPCC, to develop high quality project work elements that will be monitored annually and quarterly throughout the life of the project. In addition, the CRITFC Project actively engages in existing and emerging Pacific Lamprey restoration efforts (Synthesis Section 3) in order to contribute to the primary goal of the project which is to have Pacific Lamprey widely distributed within the CRB in numbers that fully provide for ecological, tribal cultural and harvest values. | Rasa Keanini (Inactive) | | $703,222 | 11/14/2018 | 12/11/2020 | Rasa Keanini (Inactive) | Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), HDR Engineering, Inc. | Programmatic | None | 2019-2021 Mainstem/Program Support | 2019-2021 Mainstem/Program Support | |
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