Introduction
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) share fish and wildlife co-management responsibility with the Federal Caucus, regional authorities, and local governments in the Walla Walla Subbasin.  In December of 2005, WDFW, ODFW and CTUIR agreed to collaborate on a fish monitoring project proposal to BPA.  BPA decided in early 2007 to only provide funding at the 2006 levels for WDFW and CTUIR projects so ODFW was no longer included in the collaborative proposal. The ceded lands and usual and accustomed fishing sites of CTUIR are located within the subbasin.  In October 2006, The CTUIR Board of Trustees and Executive Director approved the following mission statement for the Department of Natural Resources:  “To protect, restore, and enhance the First Foods- water, salmon, deer, cous, and huckleberry- for the perpetual cultural, economic, and sovereign benefit of the CTUIR.”  CTUIR’s Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation Mission is to “Generate knowledge regarding the biological performance and ecology of aquatic species of the First Food order in a scientifically credible and policy relevant manner to inform management and policy decisions.  Conservation and mitigation success of the First Foods in the Walla Walla Subbasin is being affected by the 4-H’s (habitat, harvest, hatcheries and the hydro-system).  The success of habitat restoration, hatchery supplementation, and modifications to the Columbia River hydrosystem operations as funded by Bonneville Power administration are critical to restoring the first foods including self-sustaining salmon and steelhead runs, productive fisheries, and increasing ecosystem function in the Walla Walla Subbasin.  

This collaborative fish monitoring project  represents an integration of ongoing Tribal and State salmonid monitoring and evaluation projects “Walla Walla Natural Production Monitoring and Evaluation” (BPA project number 2000-039-00) and “Assess Fish Habitat and Salmonids in the Walla Walla Watershed in Washington” (BPA project number 199802000).  Project support and cost share is also received from The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Walla Walla Basin Watershed Council, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of India Affairs, and a number of other public and private resource user groups.  Subbasin co-managers and stakeholders continue to request status and trend information to support planning and recovery; while managers and funding agencies request evaluation of project and program effectiveness.  Project goals are to describe salmonid life histories, assess current salmonid  abundance, productivity, and spatial diversity, evaluate management implications from project results.  This project will monitor and evaluate salmonids within the Walla Walla Subbasin across life histories, taxa, and geographic areas to provide status and trend information, as well as begin evaluation of effectiveness of habitat modifications, in support of management and recovery planning.  Primary focal species are spring Chinook salmon, and ESA-listed summer steelhead, and bull trout.  Project monitoring and evaluation work will focus on providing critical “Viable Salmonid Population” metrics for fish abundance and population status as recommended in the in the Walla Walla Subbasin Plan and Snake River Salmon Recovery Plan for Southeast Washington.  Project “Work Elements” include Adult Enumeration, Spawning Surveys, Radio-telemetry, Out-migrant monitoring, PIT-tagging, Fish Salvage, Project Management, RM & E Planning, and Project Reporting.  We believe these monitoring and evaluation actions meet the highest priorities as identified by the Walla Walla Subbasin Plan and Snake River Salmon Recovery Plan.  Project biological metrics include adult returns, run timing and escapement; redd counts and distribution; adult movement, passage delay and distribution; out-migrant condition at emigration, abundance, survival and timing; smolt survival and timing to Columbia River interrogation sites, and smolt to adult returns; number of fish salvaged.  Areas of the subbasin to be more intensively monitored include the Walla Walla, Touchet, and Mill Creek drainages.  

Project History
CTUIR’s initial monitoring and evaluation work in the subbasin was done under the Umatilla Basin Natural Production Monitoring and Evaluation Project, and ran from 1998 through 2002.  Data was collected and summarized to describe water temperature, stream flow, riparian habitat; work also included steelhead spawning surveys, steelhead genetic sampling, juvenile fish abundance surveys, spawning surveys on out-planted spring Chinook salmon, trapping and PIT-tagging out-migrants.  Between 2003 and 2006, the projected has expanded as the Walla Walla Natural Production Monitoring and Evaluation Project (BPA project number 2000-039-00).  Field work elements included spawning surveys, rotary trapping, PIT-tagging, adult radio-telemetry, juvenile fish surveys, and habitat surveys.  Both the WDFW and CTUIR projects have contributed substantial information to numerous planning and management processes and guided habitat enhancement efforts.  The project has developed, managed, and analyzed data describing spawner and redd distribution, adult fish movement, passage and distribution, juvenile and resident salmonid populations, fish habitat, age and growth, smolt abundance, timing and survival.  Smolt out-migration evaluations also began in the fall of 2001 for summer steelhead and the progeny of the adult spring Chinook salmon out-planted in 2000; and outmigrant data on roughly 25,000 smolts has submitted to the PTAGIS system

The project has provided this information to managers and researchers working to restore salmonids to the Walla Walla River Subbasin.  Staff have studied the presence and potential impacts of hatchery residuals on naturally producing anadromous and resident salmonids, and have advised on the release location and timing of hatchery projects.  Staff has assisted in the development and implementation of a variety of critical uncertainty research projects including the delineation of ESA-listed summer steelhead population structure, and the assessment of ESA-listed bull trout age and growth, movement, spawning, and survival.  Collectively these data have been utilized in a number of plans and management actions including limiting factors analysis, habitat plans, passage restoration, flow augmentation, harvest planning, and hatchery master planning.  Most recently, project staffs worked with regional scientists using WDFW and CTUIR data to develop, run, and evaluate the Walla Walla Subbasin Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment model used in the Walla Walla Subbasin Plan and addendum.  The project used EDT to quantify the potential of the Walla Walla Subbasin to produce on average thousands of additional spawners via the restoration of specific habitat attributes in priority reaches.  We have drafted a comprehensive RM&E plan, and produced several progress reports.  This information has been effectively communicated to managers, and a great deal of the information has been archived and made public via the internet.  Past reports for this project are available on the BPA and CTUIR web sites at: efw.bpa.gov/searchpublications/ or at http:// www.umatilla.nsn.us (CTUIR website).

Location of Project
Work will be done throughout the Oregon and Washington portions of the Walla Walla Basin.  Areas of the subbasin to be more intensively monitored include the Walla Walla, Touchet, and Mill Creek drainages.  CTUIR staff will work out of the field office at the South Fork Walla Walla adult holding facility near Milton-Freewater, Oregon and in fall of 2007 staff will move into the newly constructed Water and Environmental Center at Walla Walla Community Collage (facility use fee paid from CTUIR contract indirect).  Additional administrative support will be received from the Tribal Offices near Pendleton, Oregon.

Management Objective
CTUIR has similar restoration goals and objectives for the Walla Walla Subbasin as have been developed for the Umatilla River. CTUIR’s fisheries management objective is to provide sustainable (tribal and non-tribal) harvest opportunities for aquatic species of the first food order (e.g. salmon, steelhead and lamprey) by protecting, conserving, and restoring native aquatic populations and their habitat; and monitor the status and trends of these populations and their habitats to generate the information  needed to form sound management and policy decisions. CTUIR’s restoration efforts in the Walla Walla Basin have included improving stream flows, rehabilitating habitat, reintroducing spring Chinook, restoring adult and juvenile salmonid passage facilities, providing technical assistance and guidance to other agencies or groups, and the public, for protection and enhancement of salmonids (and other fish and wildlife species) and their habitats. Natural and artificial production goals for spring Chinook salmon and steelhead n the Walla Walla Basin are not agreed to by the co-managers, although all fishery co-managers agree with the intent of reintroduction of spring Chinook salmon in some locations, and to some level (soon to be determined).

BPA Furnished Property or Services
BPA will furnish 6,000 PIT tags to CTUIR in FY 2007