This statement of work describes work to be performed by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon, Department of Natural Resources to implement Project #200715700 Bull Trout Status and Abundance Monitoring in the Waters in and Bordering the Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon, as recommended by the Pacific Northwest Power and Conservation Council and funded through the “Agreement on 2007 Federal Columbia River Power System Fish Operations and Transition Funding” settlement.  Work elements described will be implemented from 1 March through 30 September 2007.

Project Goal:

The goal of this project is to determine and implement accurate and cost effective methods to monitor bull trout abundance in the lower Deschutes sub-basin.  Techniques for monitoring juvenile and adult abundance and spawning escapement will be evaluated during implementation of this project.  Juvenile abundance will be monitored in the Warm Springs River and Shitike Creek by assessing the utility of night snorkeling “index” reaches to determine trends in relative abundance.  Juvenile abundance monitoring began during 1999 and will continue through 2007 in order to establish an adequate time series from which to evaluate the technique. Trends in adult bull trout abundance in the lower Deschutes sub-basin will be monitored by conducting multiple pass redd surveys in Warm Springs R. and Shitike Cr.  Annual temporal and spatial variation in bull trout spawning will be identified to determine if index reaches within the available spawning habitat can be used to monitor trends in adult bull trout spawning abundance. Escapement of adult fluvial bull trout to the spawning grounds in Warm Springs R. and Shitike Cr. will be estimated using fish weirs. Weirs will be operated in Warm Springs R. and Shitike Cr. throughout the spawning immigration to enumerate fluvial bull trout bound for the spawning grounds. Adult immigrants enumerated at the weirs and total redd counts by stream will be used to formulate an adult per redd ratio. The ratio will be used to estimate the numbers of spawners per redd.  Thermographs will be placed throughout the Warm Springs River and Shitike Creek to monitor water temperatures in the migration, holding and spawning corridors.

During 2007 we will use PIT technology to determine if bull trout in the Warm Springs River exhibit both fluvial and resident life-history patterns. Half duplex PIT tags will be implanted in juvenile bull trout to evaluate long-term movement patterns within the Warm Springs R. and lower Deschutes R.  Three PIT tag interrogation sites will be established in the Warm Springs R.  An additional interrogation site will be installed near the mouth of Shitike Cr. to determine if interactions occur between the two populations.  

Additionally during this contract period we will produce a final technical report titled “Bull Trout Life History, Abundance and Distribution in the Warm Spring Reservation, Oregon”. The report will contain a complete summary and analysis of the results from 1998 – 2006 project 1994-05400 contracts #00006212 and #00026435 and the results from sampling during 2007 under project 200715700. The report will also contain management recommendations, a monitoring plan and future research needs for bull trout populations within the Warm Springs Reservation. We had originally proposed to complete this report during May, 2007 under contract #00026435. However due to the uncertainty surrounding the funding status of this project after fiscal year 2007 it seems logical to incorporate 2007 field results into the final report.