Currently, insufficient incubation and juvenile rearing space is available to meet the project’s long-term goal.  Juvenile sockeye salmon are reared at the IDFG Sawtooth Fish Hatchery (a Lower Snake River Compensation Plan facility) and at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Oxbow Fish Hatchery (a Mitchell Act facility).  As both facilities are focused on higher priority mitigation mandates, limited rearing space is available for sockeye salmon. As such, the Department is currently pursuing the acquisition of suitable hatchery space to meet this objective.  Consistent with the FCRPS Biological Opinion and the Idaho Fish Accord, the new Idaho facility would have the capacity to produce between 500,000 and 1 million full-term smolts annually for release to locations in the Sawtooth Valley.  Focusing on a smolt release strategy maximizes the potential to return anadromous adults.  

The interim abundance guidelines established by NOAA suggest that 1,000 naturally-produced adults are needed to return to Redfish Lake and 500 adults to Pettit and Alturas lakes over a two-generation period to initiate any policy discussions related to ESA-listing status.  Little information is available to guide the development of minimum effective population size targets for this ESU.  However, it is probably safe to assume, that the “50/500” rule described by Franklin (1980), Soulé (1980), and Nelson and Soulé (1987) should be considered, at a minimum, rough guidance for the development of adult return criteria.  Under their rule, an effective population size of 50 or less is not considered genetically viable in the long-term and is vulnerable to the effects of inbreeding depression while an effective population size of 500 or greater would allow the population to retain adaptive genetic variation over time (evolutionary potential).  

The Department anticipates that releasing up to 1 million smolts could consistently return approximately 5,000 anadromous adults annually.  Increased eggs for the expanded smolt program will be produced at the Department’s newly expanded Eagle Fish Hatchery broodstock station and possibly from increased production from NOAA facilities in Washington State.  

This contract will fund preliminary facility design work associated with the BiOp proposed action to rear 500,000 to 1,000,000 sockeye smolts and addressing the NPCC 3-step process.  NEPA reviews will be completed by BPA and initial property surveys will begin.  An Engineering Firm will be selected to develop a Master Plan, Preliminary Design, Value Engineering, Final Design and cost estimates.