This project monitors the summer and winter steelhead populations in the Wind River to determine if restoration actions increase the abundance and productivity of these populations and subpopulations, provides an index of ocean survival for wild summer steelhead in the Gorge Province, and provides population specific data to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) Fisheries so they can determine when ESA listed Wind River steelhead are a viable salmon population and can be delisted.  Scientists are also concerned with interactions between native wild steelhead and introduced hatchery spring chinook populations, therefore adult and juvenile outmigrant spring chinook are also monitored.

Background: The Wind River had one of the largest summer steelhead populations in the Lower Columbia Area.  Wild summer steelhead populations began declining after surveys were initiated in the mid-1980's.  The Wind River Restoration Team was formed in the early 1990's to determine the cause of the decline and help rebuild this wild summer steelhead population.   The group took a two pronged approach: one increase adult and juvenile monitoring to determine if the cause of the decline was occurring in the subbasin or outside of the subbasin, and to restore habitat to increase the steelhead population.  In the late 1990's BPA began funding this cooperative effort between WDFW, UCD, USFS, USGS, and USFWS.