The original experimental design for this study was submitted to BPA in December, 1992 and field work began in 1993 as the Idaho Steelhead Supplementation Project.  Two small scale supplementation experiments were initiated in 1993 and completed in 2004.  In concordance with these supplementation studies, the project's objectives focused on Idaho wild steelhead population dynamics, life-history, and genetics.  The project was renamed Idaho Steelhead Monitoring & Evaluation Studies (ISMES) in 2005.  

In 2007, our monitoring activities will be similar to what was done in 2006.  We will install and operate a weir in Fish Creek to estimate steelhead escapement.  We will also collaborate with other Idaho Fish and Game weirs to estimate adult Steelhead escapement in Rapid River, Pahsimeroi River, upper Salmon River (Sawtooth Weir), Red River and Crooked River.  We plan to continue running screw traps in Fish Creek, Rapid River and Secesh River.  We will add another monitoring location in the MF Salmon River in Big Creek at Taylor Ranch.  This will be an wilderness indicator site that, as described for Rapid River, Secesh River, and Big Creek, will allow us to gather important life-history data such as: length and age of smolts, smolt migration patterns, and number of migrants.  We plan to coordinate with NOAA fisheries on a proposed sonar site at Taylor Ranch to estimate adult escapement into Big Creek. This juvenile and smolt life-history data is similar to the data collected at Fish Creek, allowing comparisons among the streams.  We will assess juvenile steelhead abundance in tributary streams of the Lochsa River, Selway River, SF Salmon River, MF Salmon River, and the upper Salmon River.  The ISMES project will continue collecting continuous temperature data at over 40 locations within the Clearwater and Salmon Rivers.  We plan to prepare manuscripts for peer reviewed journals that describe the genetic stock structure of Idaho's steelhead populations, productivity of the Fish Creek population, and if time permits a description of steelhead parr and smolt age and growth in Idaho streams.

ISMES cooperates with and complements the other projects in the Idaho Anadromous Natural Production Program (Idaho Supplementation Studies and Idaho Natural Production Monitoring & Evaluation Project) as well as research conducted by other resource management entities operating in areas upstream of Lower Granite Dam (LGD).  ISMES uses data from a variety of sources from the Snake River drainage that is upstream of LGD and accessible to anadromous salmonids. Collection of these data requires coordination and cooperation among numerous agencies and projects, e.g. the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the United States Forest Service (USFS), the Nez Perce Tribe (NPT), the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (SBT), and the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS).  Internal IDFG cooperators include the Idaho Supplementation Studies (ISS, projects 198909800, 198909801, and 198909802), Lower Snake River Compensation Plan Evaluation, and Idaho Natural Production Monitoring & Evaluation Project (INPMEP project 1991-073-00), and IDFG regional fisheries biologists and managers.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Objective 1: Enumerate adult escapement, age, sex ratios, and run timing at index streams in the Clearwater and Salmon drainages
Objective 2:  Monitor juvenile steelhead abundance in tributaries of the Clearwater and Salmon drainages
Objective 3:  Estimate juvenile steelhead outmigration and timing in tributaries of the Clearwater and Salmon drainages
Objective 4:  Assess age and growth of steelhead juveniles and smolts from tributaries in the Clearwater and Salmon drainages.
Objective 5: Monitor smolt survival from tributary to Lower Granite Dam, through the hydro system, and to adult return.
Objective 6: Develop productivity metrics from wild steelhead stocks in Idaho.
Objective 7: Genetic monitoring of the temporal and spatial patterns of steelhead populations in Idaho
Objective 8:  Monitor water temperatures in selected tributaries of the Clearwater and Salmon drainages.