Columbia River basin managers have identified the John Day River subbasin spring Chinook and summer steelhead populations as index populations for assessing the effects of alternative future management actions in the Columbia River basin. A coordinated approach to the monitoring and evaluation of the status and trends in these anadromous salmonid populations and their habitats is therefore needed to support restoration and management efforts. The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) currently conducts the majority of fish monitoring in the subbasin, and coordinates monitoring with numerous other partners through the John Day Basin Partnership (JDBP). This proposed project provides the only subbasin-wide, rigorous, status and trend monitoring for the two anadromous focal species—steelhead and Chinook in the John Day River subbasin. This project is high priority based on emphasis the Northwest Power and Conservation Council Fish and Wildlife Program, Subbasin Plan, and NOAA Fisheries have placed on monitoring and evaluation to guide restoration and adaptive management.

Our current monitoring and evaluation includes redd and spawner escapement measured with census (Chinook) and probabilistic (steelhead) surveys at both population and subbasin spatial scales. Freshwater production is measured by collecting emigrating smolts at five locations in the basin.  Our primary objective of this component of the project is to de-couple freshwater and marine influences on survival and productivity, so that we can identify how changes in freshwater conditions (e.g., restoration projects) influence productivity of salmonid populations.  Out-migrants per redd are estimated for both species at the population scale for the South Fork, Middle Fork, and Upper Mainstem populations, Desolation Creek, and for the John Day River basin as a whole for Chinook.  Marine survival is measured as smolt-to-adult returns (SAR) by Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagging a representative subsample of emigrating juveniles.  The survival data from this component of the project provide a downstream reference for Snake River salmonid survival.  We have additionally used these data to inform life cycle models, explain ecological influences on fish metrics, quantify the presence of hatchery steelhead spawning in the John Day River (and the factors driving their presence), and developed fishery management targets.  Our adult abundance and juvenile production estimates for the Middle Fork John Day populations are a crucial cost-share component producing metrics for the Middle Fork John Day River IMW.

In addition to ongoing life-cycle monitoring, we have also added several Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) style studies to measure changes in fish and habitat metrics at restoration sites.  These have been initiated in consultation with JDBP partners (1993-066-00 ODFW Oregon Fish Screens Project; 1984-021-00 ODFW John Day Habitat Enhancement; 2007-397-00 CTWS John Day Watershed Restoration; 2000-015-00 CTWS Upper John Day Conservation Lands; 2000-031-00 CTUIR Enhance Habitat in the North Fork John Day River; 2002-034-00 Wheeler SWCD Riparian Buffers in Wheeler County; 2002-035-00 Gilliam SWCD Riparian Buffers in Gilliam County; 2001-021-00 Wasco SWCD Riparian Buffers), and are intended to both evaluate outcomes and inform future projects through the JDBP’s adaptive management processes.  Some examples of these monitoring projects include the Vincent to Vinegar project on the Middle Fork John Day River (2007-397-00), the Murderers Creek Ranch project on the South Fork John Day (1984-021-00), and monitoring of steelhead response to riparian fencing and bass incursion in Thirtymile Creek (Lower Mainstem John Day River; 1984-021-00 and 2002-035-00).

The two primary tracks of our monitoring, population-scale and reach-scale, have both contributed to or directly created numerous technical presentations, guidance for managers, and peer-reviewed publications.  We will continue these two tracks, and propose to revisit some historic salmonid sampling sites to evaluate trend in habitat metrics and fish abundance at sites with varying degrees of restoration.  We also propose incorporation of new sites to monitor key uncertainties for salmonid populations in the John Day River subbasin.