The Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT) Resident Fish RM&E project is a Columbia River Fish Accord project that began in 2008. The primary goal for the Resident Fish RM&E Project is to conserve, enhance and restore native fish populations on the CCT Reservation and Usual and Accustomed areas (UNA), and when appropriate, provide opportunities for subsistence harvest by the Colville Tribal members and recreational anglers. The current work of the RM&E project focuses on the protection and conservation of Redband Rainbow Trout.

Rainbow Trout are a focal species in the Sanpoil Subbasin under the Intermountain Province Subbasin Plan (IMP) due to their recreational value as a sport fish and their cultural significance to the CCT (Gillin and Pizzimenti 2004). The Columbia River Redband Trout are a subspecies of Rainbow Trout native to the Columbia River drainage east of the Cascade Mountains as far as barrier falls on the Snake, Spokane, Pend Oreille, and Kootenai rivers (Allendorf et al. 1980; Behnke 1992; McLellan and Lee 2010). Effective fisheries management of Redband Trout requires an understanding of population structure, complex historical management activities, geography, and life history strategies (Small et al. 1998; McCusker et al. 2000; Spidle et al. 2003; Spruell et al. 2003; Small et al. 2007).
Two genetically distinct subspecies of rainbow trout have been identified within the Sanpoil Subbasin(Small and Dean 2006, 2007). Redband trout are native to the drainage, while coastal Rainbow Trout have been introduced to the area (Gillin and Pizzimenti 2004). Native Redband may be genetically similar to the native, steelhead populations that were once abundant within the upper Columbia River system (Leary 1997; Gillan and Pizzimenti 2004).

In order to properly manage the Redband population for protection and enhancement, an understanding of population dynamics is necessary along with an understanding of survival during key life stages. The project plans to implement four primary tasks which include monitoring abundance, monitoring recruitment, monitoring harvest, and monitoring escapement to assist with filling data gaps and assist management decisions. The development of a multi-year data set will enable managers to monitor trends over time and address potential limiting factors.

Monitoring Recruitment: The project will use PIT tag arrays and screw traps to estimate recruitment of Redband Trout to Lake Roosevelt from the Sanpoil River basin. Out-migration timing will be monitored with PIT tag arrays and a screw trap.  The project will monitor at least two PIT tag arrays at key tributaries to monitor fluvial and adfluvial population movement trends.

Monitor Harvest: The project will coordinate with the Lake Roosevelt Fisheries Evaluation Project (1994-043-00) to obtain creel information on wild Rainbow Trout. Creel clerks scan all wild Rainbow Trout for PIT tags. Tissue samples and otolith samples will be collected from all wild Rainbow Trout during creel surveys. If funds are available, DNA analysis will be conducted to determine the proportion of wild trout harvest from the Sanpoil River and other CCT tributaries.

Monitor Escapement: The project will monitor lacustrine adfluvial escapement into the Sanpoil River from a weir trap installed near the mouth of the river. Current monitoring is restricted to the summer and fall, as the weir cannot currently withstand the spring freshet. The mainstem PIT tag array will also be used to track river entry timing of adult of spawning fish.

Monitor Movements/Entrainment: The project will continue an existing acoustic tracking study of Redband Trout. Seasonal movement patterns have been studied for Redband Trout originating in the Sanpoil River, and now the project will focus on studying Redband Trout movements from fish that utilize tributaries found on the East side of the Reservation (Barnaby, Wilmont, Three and Six Mile creeks). This project will take over downloading, maintaining, and processing acoustic information for Redband Trout marked by CCT and coordinating these efforts with the Spokane Tribe who is also conducting acoustic tracking studies on the reservoir. Entrainment of adult and juvenile Redband Trout will be monitored with the acoustic array located below Grand Coulee Dam (in Rufus Woods) and with full duplex PIT tags placed in out-migrating juveniles that may be detected at lower river bypass facilities.

The development of a standardized stock assessment project will enable biologists to estimate the current status of Redband Trout relative to management targets. These estimates will then be used to suggest management activities to improve abundance of Redband Trout in the Sanpoil River and Lake Roosevelt. The information will be used to conserve and protect high risk populations, which are those that have less than 100 breeding pairs, identify the most productive locations which will enable biologist to suggest protections and reduced logging in key Redband Trout spawning locations.

Data obtained during this year study will be combined with co-manager data and used by the co-managers as a tool for conserving Redband Trout in the Upper Columbia River basin.  The results will also be used in concert with the CCT Habitat Improvement Project to monitor changes in the population status after habitat projects have been implemented throughout the Reservation and UNAs.