Lower Klamath River Tributary Juvenile Salmonid Assessment

This project consisted of monitoring salmonid smolt outmigration in Blue Creek a Lower Klamath Tributary in 2021-22. Crews operated a rotary screw trap in Blue Creek to estimate the number of smolts outmigrating during spring - fall. This project provided valuable information regarding annual trends in abundance of outmigrant salmonids from these Lower Klamath tributaries, assessing the overall status of the unique Lower Klamath late-fall run chinook and ESA listed Coho salmon, as well as steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout.

Project Benefit: Provide data so that management actions (timber harvest, road maintenance, restoration efforts, and harvest management of late-run fall Chinook) can be improved with respect to their effect on anadromous fish in general, and particularly with respect to ESA-listed SONCC Coho Salmon and late-fall Chinook Salmon of Blue Creek and McGarvey Creek.



In McGarvey Creek, considerable restoration has addressed limiting factors to juvenile Coho production through introduction of large woody debris, engineered log jams, reforestation, creation of off-channel habitat (alcoves), and installation of beaver dam analogs. Success of these projects will be assessed through the continuation of the long-term data set for estimates of juvenile Coho outmigrants at the McGarvey Creek Pipe Trap. Furthermore, we are currently conducting analysis of overwinter survival for PIT tagged McGarvey Creek juvenile coho from brood year 2009 forward. An increase in overwinter survival over time will infer that creation of over-winter habitat through restoration has resulted in a positive population response. We have also started to measure over-summer survival beginning in the summer of 2015. Analysis of over-winter/over-summer survival estimate trends over time will be used to assess whether restoration actions have addressed limiting factors in the McGarvey Creek watershed.

Recent restoration actions in the Blue Creek watershed include tribal acquisition of large tracts of the Blue Creek watershed and upslope restoration activities. Over 15,000 acres have been designated as an old growth forest preserve. Furthermore, considerable instream restoration is planned for the Blue Creek watershed. Continuation of the long term monitoring of juvenile Chinook production at the Blue Creek rotary screw trap will help inform the success of these restoration actions. In addition, we use this information to analyze the stock recruitment for Blue Creek late-fall Chinook to help manage and protect the Tribe’s federally reserved fishing right.