AMENDMENT 2 DESCRIPTION: (Cameron Thomas, January 23, 2008).  This contract was amended in January 2008 at $0.00 cost by extending the end date of the contract to 3/31/2008.   Funds of approximately $64,000.00 dollars remain on the existing 2007 contract due to a variety circumstances that were unforeseen at the contract start date.  Random site selection for 2007 steelhead surveys and snorkeling did not require the volume of rafting and stock support planned (work elements D. 174,  C. 157, E.157).   Raft contractor payment was made with NOAA funding in 2007.   The Forest Service ISEMP Program Manager position went unfilled in 2007, and responsibilities of this position were absorbed by lower graded staff and the Oka-Wen Forest Fish Program Manager, as a short term solution.  In addition,  Forest Service funding was utilized to administer the BPA contract.  The combination of lower graded positions, program vacancies, and Forest Service cost-share led to a one time considerable savings on this contract.

Work Elements D. 174, Steelhead Survey Site Recon and C. 157 Steelhead Redd Surveys require survey sites to be validated and some surveys accomplished in late March and April in remote locations requiring over snow access.  Remote site reconn and survey accomplishment to meet ISEMP protocols, (D. 174- "Evaluate existing spatially located random sites for suitability according to rules established by ISEMP for accepting or rejecting sites using the ISEMP Master Site List for steelhead including descriptions of the final site list, list of all sites considered, and reasons for rejecting sites from sampling.  Coordinate updates to the Master Site List for steelhead with other ISEMP contractors according to the specified schedule.") In previous years, Forest Service ATV's and snowmobiles have been utilized to complete this work.   ATV's were dropped from use after the 2006 field season because they are likely to get stuck in deep snows in afternoons as temperatures rise, which cause safety concerns.   Existing snowmobiles made available by the Forest Service have been used to the point in past seasons, including 2007, that they are no longer mechanically reliable, also creating a safety concern.   Using 5% of the existing budget, or $8,800.00, the Forest will purchase two reliable snowmobiles and a trailer to get them to recon and survey sites.


AMENDMENT DESCRIPTION:  In April 2007, this contract was amended by adding a two new work elements and a budget modification to fund these new work elements.  The two new work element are Work Element  E:157  "Snorkel Surveys" and WE F: 157  "Entiat subbasin temperature, sediment and redd survey data".   All the milestones and other information within these new work elements are new.  Associated work element budget modifications have been provided in an amended contract budget.  This amendment does not require additional environmental compliance coordination as it is already covered by existing permits on file with the BPA  work or pertains to data entry work. No other changes to the contract were made during this amendment. See detailed justification for/description of proposed work for this amendment below at end of  CONTRACT DESCRIPTION.

CONTRACT DESCRIPTION
Project #2003-017-00 (Project) seeks to develop two novel monitoring and evaluation programs: (i) subbasin-scale pilot status and trend monitoring efforts for anadromous salmonids and their habitat in the Wenatchee, John Day and South Fork Salmon River basins, and (ii) effectiveness monitoring for suites of habitat restoration projects in selected watersheds within the three target subbasins.  This work - critical for implementing the 2000 NMFS FCRPS Biological Opinion (RPA Actions 180, 181, and 183) (BiOp) - builds on current status and trend monitoring programs within each of these basins.  Several regional and local organizations are funding and implementing these programs.  This project will integrate existing and new monitoring and evaluation activities in three pilot subbasins to help ensure that provisions of the BiOp are satisfied.

This contract is one of several contracts that will implement this project.  The FINAL REPORT for this contract will contain data that will 1) be submitted to NOAA FISHERIES (also a contractor under this project) for use in a  project level integrated Annual Report and 2) be submitted to BPA as a contract final report according to the terms of this contract. This Scope of Work (SOW) will enable the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to implement the Project in the Wenatchee Subbasin.  Specifically, within this SOW, United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service (USFS) will estimate the total number of steelhead redds in 25 randomly selected streams reaches within the Wenatchee Subbasin.  

The work elements within this SOW expand upon previous and current monitoring work being conducted by USFS and are key components of the two monitoring and evaluation programs developed by the Project. Past and current USFS monitoring work includes steelhead spawning surveys in the Wenatchee, Methow, Entiat and Naches subbasins; fine sediment, stream temperature, fish distribution surveys, habitat surveys, and bull trout spawning surveys in the Methow, Entiat, Wenatchee, Upper Yakima and Naches subbasins.  All the monitoring programs are coordinated with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Yakama Nation, Chelan County and Douglas County Public Utility Districts, and other ISEMP contractors.  

These work elements are interrelated with other Project components including steelhead spawning surveys in index reaches and reconnaissance/coordination work performed by Chelan Conservation District and Terraqua, Inc.  While the completion of most work elements within this SOW is not dependent on the implementation of interrelated Project components, the completion of this SOW will provide the context for, and facilitate the interpretation of, data collected in other Project components.  

Two work elements within this SOW will be dependent on the implementation of an interrelated Project component.  Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will be conducting steelhead spawning ground surveys at index reaches.  Counts of steelhead in these index reaches will be required, in conjunction with USFS surveys at randomly-selected sites, to generate total Subbasin escapement values.  Chelan County Conservation District will be obtaining permission for USFS to conduct work under this SOW at sites that are on private lands.  CCCD's ability to perform this service required by this SOW requires timely input of data from USFS.

AMENDMENT:

The purpose of this amendment is to fund the USFS Wenatchee National Forest to conduct day snorkel surveys at 50 status and trend sites in the Wenatchee subbasin in the summer of 2007 in coordination with the Yakama Nation, and to assist the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with night time snorkel surveys at 23 effectiveness monitoring sites in the Entiat subbasin in the fall of 2007.   In addition, the USFS Entiat Ranger District currently deploys and operates water temperature data loggers to record continuous water temperature data in the Entiat and Mad Rivers, collects and processes spawning gravel samples from the Entiat and Mad Rivers to determine percent fines, and  performs steelhead spawning ground surveys.  The funding for this work expires 30 September 2007.  This amendment will fund data entry for the period Oct 2007 through February 2008 by the Entiat Ranger Station for sediment, temperature and steelhead redd survey data collected in the Entiat subbasin in 2007.  


Unless changes are mutually agreed to by the Upper Columbia Regional Technical Team (RTT) and USFS, technical methodologies for all work conducted under this SOW will follow protocols specified in the following document:


Hillman, T.W.  2004.  Monitoring strategy for the Upper Columbia Basin: Draft report February 1, 2004.  Prepared for Upper Columbia Regional Technical Team, Wenatchee, Washington.

NOAA-Fisheries and the RTT are creating an appendix to Hillman (2004) describing specific inter-relationships between several monitoring elements, currently in draft version.  This draft document, and eventually the final appendix, will provide additional context for this SOW, but will not constitute a contractual element of this SOW.