In 2010, our monitoring activities will be similar to what was done in 2009.  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 run screw traps in Fish Creek, Rapid River, and Big Creek (Middle Fork salmon drainage) at Taylor Ranch.  Data from these traps will allow us to gather important life-history data (e.g., length and age of smolts, smolt migration patterns, and number of migrants) from a range of population types.   This juvenile and smolt life-history data will allow comparisons among streams.  We will assess juvenile steelhead abundance in selected tributary streams of the Clearwater and Salmon rivers.  The ISMES project will continue collecting continuous temperature data at over 20 locations within the Clearwater and Salmon rivers.  In 2009, we finished work on a pilot study on genetic stock identification of adult steelhead passing Lower Granite Dam, (Spawn year 2009), conducted in cooperation with NOAA Fisheries personnel (project 200500200, Operation of the Lower Granite Dam Adult Trap). This portion of the contract was directed by a Memorandum of Agreement between Bonneville Power and the State of Idaho for a period of 10 years. The pilot study was a success and will be continued in this contract. Sampling will be directed towards spawn year 2010, finishing during spring 2010, and spawn year 2011, beginning in fall 2010. The goal will be to provide Lastly, we plan to prepare manuscripts for peer reviewed journals regarding the genetic work at Lower Granite Dam, a summarization of the previous supplementation work (1993-2006), and a description of juvenile 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).  In particular, we coordinate closely with the Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring PRogram (200301700). 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: Estimate adult escapement, age composition, sex ratio, and run timing at index streams in the Clearwater/Salmon drainages and at Lower Granite Dam.
Objective 2:  Estimate steelhead parr abundance in selected tributaries of the Clearwater and Salmon drainages.
Objective 3:  Estimate abundance, timing, and age composition of juvenile steelhead emigrants from selected tributaries of the Clearwater and Salmon drainages.
Objective 4: Estimate smolt survival and migration timing from selected tributaries to Lower Granite Dam, through the hydro system, and to adult return.
Objective 5: Develop productivity metrics from wild steelhead populations in Idaho.
Objective 6: Describe temporal and spatial patterns in genetic diversity of steelhead populations in Idaho.
Objective 7:  Monitor water temperatures in selected tributaries of the Clearwater and Salmon drainages.

FAST TRACK CHANGES (May 2010)
Four new work elements were added (AC-AF)
Budgets were modified for elements F, L, U, Z, and AA.
Work element X was transferred to a new project (2010-026-00)