This document represents the Performance Period 2005-2006 BPA contract Statement of Work for the Underwood Conservation District (UCD) portion of the project entitled "Assessment of current and potential salmonid production in Rattlesnake Creek associated with restoration efforts".

The overall purpose of the project is to complete detail surveys of water quality, fish populations, habitat conditions and riparian health in the Rattlesnake Creek sub-basin of the White Salmon River in south central Washington.  Results of the surveys will be used to establish Rattlesnake Creek sub-basin baseline conditions prior to anticipated fish passage around Condit Dam in 2006, and enable cost-effective formulation of future watershed restoration strategies.

This statement of work describes the intended 12 month's activities by UCD from July 1 2005 through June 30 2006.  

Work items include:

Task 1a, Measure water quality, water quantity, stream habitat, and riparian conditions.  Tasks include
-Water quality monitoring at 6 stations in Rattlesnake Creek and 11 stations in other parts of the White Salmon Watershed.  Parameters sampled will be pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, turbidity, and water temperature.  
-Continuous water temperature monitoring at 16 stations in Rattlesnake Creek and the White Salmon River basin, using Onset Stowaway temperature loggers.
-Monitoring ground water levels using shallow ground water wells (piezometers) at 8 locations in upper Rattlesnake Creek.  Data will help us better understand changes in ground water levels that result from restoration efforts and forest development
-Continuous stream discharge monitoring on Rattlesnake Creek, via a stream gage station that was installed in spring 2003.

Task 1c, Determine background levels of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the Rattlesnake Creek drainage.  Stable isotope ratios in selected flora and fauna will be assessed using methods similar to those described by Kline et al. (1990) and Bilby et al. (1996).  Briefly, samples of riparian vegetation, aquatic vegetation (i.e., periphyton), aquatic macro invertebrates, or fish and other fauna will be collected from five selected locations within the watershed for isotope analysis.  In the field, riparian foliage will be collected and placed in plastic bags.  Epilithic organic matter will be scraped from aquatic substrates and collected.  To gather aquatic invertebrates, the streambed upstream of a Surber sampler will be disturbed, and samples will be placed in plastic sample bags. All samples will be kept on ice until transported back to the laboratory.  At the laboratory, samples will be frozen until they can be processed for isotope analysis.  For analysis, samples will be thawed, dried, ground to a fine powder using a laboratory mill, and stored in sealed vials.  Invertebrates will be sorted by trophic categories (e.g., grazers, shredders, collector-gatherers, and predators).  Between 25-100 mg of sample will be used for analysis, depending on taxa, and will pool samples if necessary.  The powdered samples will be sent to an outside contractor for the isotope ratio analyses.  Samples will be collected along the stream profile at five different locations (i.e., White Salmon below RSC confluence, lower RSC, middle RSC, upper RSC and upper Mill Creek (control site above fish migration corridor).