Water Quality Monitoring, Habitat Survey Assistance and Coordination in the Wenatchee and Entiat River Subbasins

AMENDMENT
This contract was amended to include funding support for a new position at the Cascadia Conservation District which is essential to the successful implementation of the Entiat Intensively Monitored Watershed (IMW).  The Entiat IMW is called for under the 2008 BiOp RPA 57.1 and seeks to determine whether a suite of instream habitat actions designed to improve habitat for listed salmonids and steelhead are effective.  The ISEMP has designed an implementation and monitoring experimental design for the Entiat IMW that calls for habitat restoration actions to be implemented in a spatially and temporally explicit manner.  This approach to action implementation and monitoring will require significant coordination, facilitation and support for the many agencies and stakeholders involved in restoring the Entiat River and the need for a person to head up this coordination effort was recognized by all those involved.  It was agreed that such a position should be housed at the CCD, with support from multiple agencies involved in the Entiat IMW, including the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and the ISEMP.  ISEMP will help support this position in FY2009 with $24,000.

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) and 2) be submitted to BPA as a contract final report according to the terms of this contract.

This contract will support the overall project in the following manner:

The Cascadia Conservation District (CCD) collects water quality data (temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH, conductivity, and nutrients) at five locations in the Wenatchee River subbasin.  The objective of the data will be to track changes that result from implementing other projects intended to benefit fish and wildlife species.   In addition to collecting water quality data, the District offers support to other agencies as part of the larger project in the form of landowner coordination and agency coordination.  Specifically, the District coordinates outreach to private landowners, and facilitates landowners and cooperating agencies getting the appropriate information based on the needs of each entity (agency or private landowners).  For landowner coordination during habitat and snorkel surveys, private sites on the list are identified and appropriate landowners along these sections of stream are contacted by the District to ensure agency staff access will be possible and allowed by the landowner.  The purpose of the survey is explained to the landowner and permission to access the stream at specific locations is requested. A database is developed for the survey and maps are created of each site for the appropriate agency conducting the survey.  The District serves as the contact point for questions from landowners about the purpose of the survey and for any special requirements specific landowners may have for agency staff to be aware of during the visit to a private site.  The work under this contract is coordinated through Terraqua, Inc. and NOAA Fisheries, entities that also implement actions under this project.