Warm Springs Reservation and John Day Basin Habitat Restoration Effectiveness Monitoring II

The Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (Reservation) supports populations of multiple salmonid species, including Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), naturalized Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), and ESA-listed threatened mid-Columbia River steelhead (O. mykiss) (64 FR 14517) and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) (63 FR 31647). Reservation streams provide vital spawning and rearing habitat for these species, and Chinook salmon and steelhead populations produced in these streams are a key component of stocks for the entire Columbia River Basin. The Reservation also represents one of the strongest remaining refuges for bull trout in the entire Pacific Northwest region. Preserving these habitats for the salmonid populations they support is thus of paramount importance, not only to the Reservation, but to the state of Oregon and Columbia River Basin.



Declining trends in certain salmonid populations, particularly spring Chinook salmon and bull trout, have been observed in Reservation streams over the last two decades. These declines are believed to be the cumulative result of a number of factors, including the blockage of key migration routes by dam construction, rising water temperatures due to climate change, and decades (possibly centuries) of poor land management practices, among other causes.



As part of the greater effort to mitigate these deleterious effects and reverse the damage to local salmonid populations, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (CTWSRO) Fisheries Habitat Program has been tasked with developing and implementing a comprehensive watershed restoration strategy for both the reservation lands and ceded lands of the John Day Basin. These strategies are centered around completing in-stream and riparian habitat improvement projects to restore ecosystem function and create key environmental conditions and features (e.g., reduced sediment loads, spawning gravels, thermal and hydraulic refugia, stream channel complexity) necessary to support both anadromous and resident salmonids through all of their freshwater life history stages.



Habitat restoration effectiveness monitoring is a vital component of the watershed restoration strategy. Such monitoring will answer key questions regarding projects and inform future restoration decisions by:



1. Evaluating project efficacy and performance: Did a given restoration project achieve its stated objectives?

2. Providing guidance for the implementation of future projects: What produces the best results, what does not? What habitat restoration measures are most effective in which situations/conditions? How can future projects be executed more effectively?

3. Identifying and prioritizing limiting factors and future project locations: Where are restoration efforts most needed?

4. Providing baseline fisheries and environmental data: What is the condition of salmonid populations, aquatic ecosystems, etc., in areas of the Reservation where restoration projects have not been implemented? How do these conditions compare to those at project sites?



PCSRF funds supported monitoring activities performed to answer these questions at several locations including: Potter’s Pond, Warm Springs River, Henning Flat, Log Springs, Shitike Creek Headworks, Middle Beaver and Warm Springs River, Fox Creek, and Middle Fork Forrest Conservation Area, all of which are CTWS restoration sites.

The CTWSRO Fisheries Habitat Program’s comprehensive watershed management strategy will benefit target salmonid species (Chinook salmon, steelhead, and bull trout) by: 1) directly generating vital spawning and rearing habitat; 2) directly mitigating deleterious environmental effects; and 3) resorting ecosystem processes and function. (For specific expected benefits of individual projects, see section directly above.) Habitat restoration effectiveness monitoring will be key in assessing the performance of restoration efforts and in identifying fish-limiting factors and guiding implementation of future projects. This will maximize realized benefits to targeted salmonids and ensure that restoration resources and efforts are executed as efficiently as possible and maximize positive results.