PRSME Infrastructure Support

Project was originally proposed with multiple work types, but for actual metric reporting it is recorded only as an IMW.

Funds for this project were used at Worksite #1) to purchase, install, and operate a PIT-tag array on Pine Creek, the lower Potlatch River control tributary in the before-after-control-impact monitoring framework. The PIT-tag array was installed in Pine Creek 300 feet above the confluence with the Potlatch River and was operational for the 2016 adult migration event.

Funds for this project were used at Worksite #2) to expand mobile radio-telemetry work. The worksite location is a midpoint in the watershed. Mobile tracking is conducted throughout the Potlatch twice weekly during the winter and spring. During peak spawning in the spring the ground tracking is supplemented by weekly aerial tracking.

Spawn Year 2015: Lower Drainage: nine radio-tagged fish completed their upstream spawning migration in the West Fork Little Bear Creek (WFLBC). Three radio-tagged steelhead traveled upstream of the Dutch Flat Dam, which was removed in 2013 to restore access to upstream spawning and rearing habitat. A redd count above the dam removal site on 4/28/2015 documented 6 steelhead redds and 4 possible redds. This was the first documented adult steelhead spawning upstream of the old dam site.

Upper Drainage: 15 of the 16 radio-tagged fish completed their upstream spawning migration in the mainstem EFK. Of these, 11 fish did not migrate upstream of a large log jam approximately 12 km above the weir site. The furthest documented upstream spawning migration in EFK was 22 km above the weir site and the fish was detected below the confluence with Pivash Creek.

Spawn Year 2016: The first radio-tagged adult steelhead entered the Potlatch River on 12/10/2015. Fifty percent of the tagged fish entered the drainage on 2/14/2016 and the last pre-spawn tagged fish was detected on 3/18/2015. Fifteen of 19 (79%) lower Potlatch River steelhead tagged at LGR entered the Potlatch River during SY2016.

Lower Drainage: The spawning distribution of radio-tagged fish was dispersed throughout the lower Potlatch drainage in SY 2016. Four radio-tagged fish migrated to West Fork Little Bear Creek, Little Bear Creek, and Big Bear Creek respectively. In the WFLBC, one radio-tagged fish traveled approximately 2.3 km upstream of the Dutch Flat Dam restoration site. Furthermore, three live adults were observed upstream of the second replaced culvert directly below a beaver dam. Four radio-tagged fish ended their upstream migration on Big Bear Creek, including one fish that stopped directly downstream of Big Bear Falls.

Upper Drainage: Fourteen radio-tagged fish completed their upstream migration into the mainstem EFK. Nine of the 14 fish migrated upstream of the log jam that was identified as a potential barrier in 2015. The furthest documented upstream spawning migration in EFK was approximately 28 km above the weir site. One radio-tagged fish was detected in the West Fork Potlatch River approximately 15 km upstream of the confluence with the EFK. 30 of 31 radio-tagged fish ended their upstream spawning migration in the mainstem EFK in 2015 and 2016.

Expected benefits are: Increased monitoring of steelhead production and productivity in the Potlatch River (PR) drainage; Adult steelhead escapement estimates for spawning tributary in lower Potlatch drainage (Pine Creek); estimates of juvenile steelhead instream survival and emigration timing from Pine Creek tributary; drainage-scale estimates of adult steelhead escapement in the PR; assessment of barrier removal habitat projects in the lower PR study area; knowledge of adult steelhead mainstem migration and overwinter habitat use; and identify steelhead spawning distribution and priority reaches in the upper PR study area.