The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, Department of Natural Resources, will implement Project #2007-157-00 Bull Trout Status and Abundance Monitoring in the Waters in and Bordering the Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon.  Work elements will be implemented from 1 October 2008 through 30 September 2009.

The project goal is to determine and implement accurate, cost effective methods for monitoring bull trout abundance in the lower Deschutes River Subbasin.  We will evaluate techniques for monitoring juvenile and adult abundance and spawning escapement.  To determine trends in juvenile relative abundance in Warm Springs River and Shitike Creek, we will night snorkel “index” reaches.  Juvenile abundance monitoring began in 1999 and will continue through 2009 to evaluate this technique. Lower Deschutes River Subbasin adult bull trout population trends will be monitored by conducting multiple pass redd surveys in Warm Springs River and Shitike Creek.  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 River and Shitike Creek will be estimated using fish weirs operated throughout the spawning immigration.  Adult immigrants enumerated at the weirs and total redd counts by stream will be used to formulate a fish per redd ratio.  We will deploy and download multiple thermographs in the Warm Springs River and Shitike Creek to monitor water temperatures in the migration, holding, and spawning corridors.  PIT technology will also be used 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.  

An annual report on FY 09 activities will be prepared and submitted to BPA during May 2010.