Project goal:
Monitoring and Evaluation of summer steelhead and their habitats at a sub-basin scale requires a long-term commitment as most outcomes will not be realized for 7 to 20+ years.  

This project is designed to ultimately achieve the following goals:

1.  Determine if there is a meaningful biological change at the population (subasin), assessment unit scales for summer steelhead in the Okanogan basin (7-20+ year time frame).  

2.  Determine if there is a meaningful change in selected physical salmonid habitat parameters at the assessment unit and reach scale over time (12-20+ year time frame).

3. Determine if change is occurring in VSP parameters from the cumulative habitat restoration actions occurring throughout the Okanogan basin (12-20+ year time frame).

4. Establish quantitative data where little existed and fill data gaps necessary to recovery of listed salmonid species (1-20+ year time frame).

5. Administer contracts and ensure that this effort continues (long-term) in a scientifically sound manner that is closely coordinated across the Okanogan River Basin, Geo-political boundaries, Upper Columbia ESU, Columbia River Basin, and Pacific Northwest region (20+ year time frame).

This program is designed to address a multitude of questions and at the same time eliminate duplication of work, reduce costs, and increase monitoring efficiency.  The OBMEP has an easily repeatable spatial sampling design, standardized data collection protocols, consistent analysis and data reporting methods, and selection of sensitive indicators to develop a rigorous monitoring and evaluation effort.  This cooperative effort includes the free sharing of data, sharing monitoring responsibilities, adjusting or changing sampling methods to comport with standardized protocols or changes in technology, adhering to statistical design criteria, and strict use of informatics and the cloud to distribute and archive data.

The Colville Tribes have used, extended, and modified the structure and methods employed by the Monitoring Strategy for the Upper Columbia Basin (Hillman 2004) for use in the Okanogan subbasin in the design of the OBMEP program.  OBMEP is aligned tightly with the priorities expressed in documents and guidelines put out by The Columbia Basin Monitoring and Evaluation Project (CSMEP), Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership (PNAMP), Northwest Power and Conservation Council's (NPCC) Fish and Wildlife Program, Subbasin Plans, NOAA Fisheries guidance, 2008 BIOP and monitoring appendix P, the Upper Columbia Salmon recovery Plan, Upper Columbia Biological Strategy, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington Department of Ecology, and the Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP).  

The Okanogan Subbasin Plan calls for its vision to be supported by nine priority themes that represent the large scale agreement between all stakeholders within the subbasin. The eighth theme is “continue Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation” and OBMEP is specifically linked to this activity.

“Continued Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation: To apply adaptive management and make informed decisions will require an on-going commitment to research, monitoring and evaluation. Research allows important questions to be answered in a scientific rather than subjective manner and allows the best possible decisions on how and why to take a specific course of action. A considerable lack of knowledge exists in the Okanogan and this situation will continue to exist without continued research efforts. Evaluation of monitoring data, remote sensing data, and information from areas outside the Okanogan subbasin will also provide a mechanism to determine if progress is being made toward achieving the priority themes, and objectives contained in the subbasin plan. To track progress and inaugurate an adaptive management process, the subbasin plan relies upon a sound monitoring framework outlined under the OBMEP. This program was developed concurrently with Bonneville and NOAA fisheries IMW pilot studies in the Wenatchee, John Day and Salmon River systems; with guidance provided by the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership; the Coordinated Systemwide Monitoring and Evaluation Projects; the federal Research Monitoring and Evaluation Program, and is directly linked to the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery plan as the monitoring vehicle for listed stocks in the Okanogan subbasin. This monitoring plan will also continue to evolve as the region continues toward a fully integrated regional monitoring approach, but has at its core, the ability to effectively track status and trend for fish populations and habitat indicators in the interim" (Okanogan Subbasin Plan, Management Plan, page 9).

In 2011, the CHaMP monitoring program was given policy guidance related specifically to the needs of the habitat status and trend monitoring program operating within the Columbia River Basin by the directors of BPA, NPCC, NOAA, USFS, USFWS, and USBOR. Collectively, they wanted habitat monitoring programs to provide usable information that helps feed: 1) the Endangered Species Act Viable Salmonid Population criteria, 2) Expert panel process for crediting, 3) Timely fisheries management and adaptive management, 4) A mechanism for project selection, 5) updated limiting factors including a way to prioritize restoration actions and areas, and 6) a mechanism for evaluating habitat restoration actions in terms of status, trend, and effectiveness. The OBMEP efforts have evolved to address this guidance by the development of habitat report card tools that are now online and accessible over the internet for both the Okanogan and Methow subbasins across multiple time frames.

Although we cannot hope to answer all possible management questions, we will attempt to address as many fundamental questions related to management and recovery of anadromous salmonids as our funding allows, including basic uncertainties about targeted fish population processes, with respect to both the trends in abundance and the factors regulating salmonid population dynamics.  This program will help resource managers prescribe well-coordinated management actions and evaluate diagnostic units where progress or failures are occurring relative to measures of abundance, productivity, distribution, and trends. The OBMEP is well positioned to document the changes in habitat resulting from catastrophic wildfires that have hit the Okanogan River Basin in recent years.

The Okanogan River is an international watershed and the OBMEP project does not stop at international borders.  We facilitate collecting seamless data by collaborating with the Okanogan Nation Alliance (ONA), who in turn facilitates collaboration with other Canadian stakeholders such as Environment Canada; the Ministry of Land, Water, and Air Protection; and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. We developed clear guidance for the collection of all field data.  To vet our standardized field protocols, the Canadian effort in the Okanagan River Basin was phased in one year after data collection began in the United States portion of the Okanogan River Basin. The phased approach allowed us to assess the compatibility of our guidance documents through field testing.   Within the Okanogan subbasin, our efforts are coordinated with other management agencies and stakeholder groups that are collecting information to ensure that no duplication of effort occurs within this watershed. Data are consolidated within the OBMEP program and onto a server located at our offices and also distributed to NMFS, UCSRB, DART, and summarized into annual reports and presentations that are provided to BPA and other regional stakeholders on both sides of the border.

There have been numerous recent administrative and scientific calls for a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation program to provide consistent, region-wide information about the status of salmon populations and their response to management actions (Botkin et al. 2000, ISAB 2001, ISRP 2001, ASMS 2010, Crawford and Rumsey 2011).  In addition, the Biological Opinion on the Federal Columbia River Power System requires the development and implementation of a coordinated monitoring and evaluation program (NOAA Fisheries 2008).  The call for developing a consistent, region-wide monitoring program has been strong and widespread.  The OBMEP project increases our ability to conduct effective recovery planning and address a number of outstanding scientific agendas.  This comprehensive monitoring program provides a scientifically robust method for evaluating the status of the Okanogan River anadromous fish populations while contributing information essential for evaluating the ESU for progress toward recovery goals such as the de-listing criteria defined by the regional TRTs who identified the Okanogan River basin as having the highest extinction risk and the largest survival gap within the Upper Columbia steelhead ESU (NOAA Fisheries 2008).  A basin-wide monitoring program also provides the means to develop and refine appropriate performance measures and standards for conservation actions, thus giving managers the information to quantitatively assess the impact that composite restoration actions have on fish populations and OBMEP is specifically called for to contribute steelhead information for the Okanogan River population for RPA 50.4 (Crawford and Rumsey 2011). This work will help to address actions outlined in the NOAA fisheries 2008 Biological Opinion for the the Federal Columbia River Power System (RPA's 50.4, 50.6, 56.1, 56.3, 71.4, 72.1), specifically fish population and habitat status monitoring for listed Summer steelhead within the Okanogan River.

Whats new 2020:
Is to continue to implement existing standardized OBMEP protocols in the Okanogan subasin and finding ways to expand our reach to include more data from strategic opportunities that might arise. For example this year, we will provide cost share to the Columbia Cascade Fisheries Enhancement Group (CCFEG) to leverage state funding designed to target fish barriers throughout the Okanogan River Basin. The state of Washington has a standardized sampling method for evaluating barriers for resident fish but these methods do not work well for anadromous species that have migratory life stages that are smaller and larger than the state wide standard. The OBMEP has developed computational tools to convert these data for adult and juvenile anadromous fish across months and evaluate passage. These data can then be uploaded to the EDT model and used for our habitat monitoring efforts. By leveraging the CCFEG effort we reduce data collection costs by $170K and end up with a more expansive barrier data set. This is just the latest example of cost saving approaches we have leveraged over the years such as; USGS data collection by OBMEP staff to reduce discharge monitoring costs, Use of remote lidar, and photographic data to evaluate riparian structure and function, and leveraging PIT-tag technology to evaluate adult returns and other life stage estimates. We will begin planning and permitting for a future egg-to-fry survival study for listed summer steelhead that will help collect needed data for life-cycle model development and evaluation. We have also added a work element to enhance our ability to share information through the white literature by preparing manuscripts for professional journals.