This contract was initially consolidated under contract 92368 (May 1, 2023 through April 30, 2024). The projects consolidated were/are as follows:

2008-306 Deschutes River Fall Chinook Management and Monitoring
2008-311 Natural Production Management and Monitoring
2007-157 Bull Trout Status and Abundance on Warm Springs Reservation

The three projects above have been consolidated to the 2008-306 project code which has been renamed to Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Fisheries). Work Elements under this new consolidated contract begin with a pre-fix to inform which previous contract the work was performed under. Pre-fixes include FC for 2008-306, NP for 2008-311, BT for 2007-157. Individual descriptions of these projects are provided below:


FALL CHINOOK (FC)

Since time immemorial, aboriginal people of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (CTWSRO) have harvested fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) for subsistence, ceremonial, and medicinal purposes.  Not only is this species culturally significant, but it also has a high economic and recreational value to non-Indians.  The CTWSRO has co-management authority of fisheries resources in the Deschutes River with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW).  Deschutes River fall Chinook are an indicator stock managed under the Pacific Salmon Treaty and is used to determine ocean harvest.  The CTWSRO has obligations to provide reliable escapement estimates to the United States Chinook Technical Committee, the body that implements the Pacific Salmon Treaty.  The ODFW has obligations to provide escapement estimates to the Columbia River Compact, which sets in-river harvest. Much of the data collection for fall Chinook in the Deschutes Basin has centered on providing escapement estimates of returning adults.  Aerial surveys for fall Chinook redds, in conjunction with tagging returning adults at Sherars Falls (river kilometer, Rkm, 70) and Pelton trap (Rkm 161), and carcass surveys are used to estimate abundance.  Aerial redd surveys have been conducted in index reaches and/or from the mouth to Pelton Re-regulating Dam (Rkm, 161) since 1977 (Howell et al. 1985).  Prior to 1977, redd enumeration was conducted sporadically and sample areas were not consistent (Jonasson and Lindsay 1988).  Efforts to validate redd counts in the Deschutes River took place in 2007 (Baker et al. 2009) and 2009 (CTWSRO Natural Resources Branch Fisheries Research Dept. 2010).  Juvenile fall Chinook were tagged with coded wire tags (CWT) from April through June 1978 to 1980 (Jonasson and Lindsay 1988) and again from late-April or May through June 2002 to 2009 (Baker and Graham 2010).  Adult Chinook with CWTs recovered in various fisheries were reported through Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission Regional Mark Processing Center.  In 2011, we conducted a PIT tag feasibility study to determine how many out-migrants juvenile fall chinook could be PIT tagged upstream of Sherars Falls.  Our efforts were successful in tagging 20,000 fish therefore efforts will be continued. In 2023 we installed a new PIT tag array at the mouth of the Deschutes River that replaced the site that was malfunctioning and was providing very limited detection efficiency.

The limited data documenting juvenile fall Chinook ecology in the Deschutes River was collected as part of CWT studies.  Anticipated changes in the thermal regime, new information about genetic population structure of fall Chinook, and an upcoming opportunity to collect novel data on migration timing, smolt-to-adult ratios and possibly abundance estimates in the lower Deschutes River warrant further studies targeting the juvenile life history stage.  

In 2025 - 2026, contract objectives include:
1) Maintenance and operation of the PIT tag array at the mouth of the Deschutes River.
2) Maintain and operate the second PIT tag array near Sherars Falls to detect juvenile and adult fall Chinook salmon and other PIT tagged salmonids,
3) Assist ODFW in their operation of the adult trap and mark recapture tagging efforts,
4) Conduct carcass surveys to recover floy and PIT tags, for mark recapture escapement estimates,  
5) Develop proposal for the NWPCC Anadromous Fish Review.

NATURAL PRODUCTION (NP)

Beginning in the 1970's, The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (CTWSRO) began monitoring spring Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and summer steelhead (O. mykiss) populations within the Warm Springs River (WSR) and Shitike Creek (SC) watersheds, west-side tributaries to the lower Deschutes River, Oregon.  Objectives were status and trend monitoring in which species distribution was established and monitored through time, and life-cycle monitoring, including abundance of outmigrants, adult escapement, redds , and relative abundance of juveniles rearing in streams.  

The Columbia River Fish Accords provided an opportunity to update baseline geographic distribution for both species, evaluate current methods of life cycle monitoring, and experiment with new methods to achieve greater understanding in salmon and steelhead production in Reservation streams and address concerns that have arisen from declining trends in spring Chinook (since 2000) and ESA-listed summer steelhead (since 2010).  Some of the new methods being used include collecting tissue samples for parentage analysis to determine the proportion of successful adults that contributed to production of progeny.  Tissue sampling within tributaries to perform parentage analyses on juveniles can inform us about production among tributaries.  Studies on distribution and densities of Ceratonova shasta spores in the Deschutes Basin indicated high levels during periods when adults and juvenile spring Chinook migrate.  Exposure to disease in combination with warm summer stream temperatures may be contributing to pre-spawn mortality of holding adult spring Chinook.  

In 2025 - 2026 the objectives are to:
1) Install, operate, maintain, and remove Rotary Screw Traps (RST) in the WSR for the spring and fall out-migration period for spring Chinook and steelhead,
2) Insert PIT tags into adult and juvenile spring Chinook and O. mykiss collected in RSTs and the WSNFH;
3) Enter PIT tag data into PTAGIS and include the website to the raw data in the Annual Technical Report,
4) Operate a permanent full duplex PIT tag monitoring site in the WSR and SC,
5) Conduct Redd counts for spring Chinook and steelhead in the WSR and SC watersheds using pre-existing index reaches and a rotating panel design, investigate observer error,
6) Collect tissue samples of incoming adults from WSNFH and out-migrating juveniles from WSR RSTs, and juveniles in drainages without RSTs (i.e., Mill Creek) for parentage analysis,
7) Monitor spring Chinook Redd sedimentation,    
8) Develop proposal for NWPCC Anadromous Fish Review.  


BULL TROUT (BT)

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (CTWSRO), Branch of Natural Resources, have implemented Project Bull Trout Status and Abundance Monitoring in the Waters in and Bordering the Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon.  

The project goal is to continue to implement accurate, cost effective methods for monitoring population status and trends for bull trout in the lower Deschutes River Subbasin.  

Objectives for 2025 - 2026 are:
1. Document life-history diversity (resident, fluvial forms) of Bull Trout in the Warm Springs River (WSR) and Shitike Creek (SC) using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag technology,  
2. Monitor juvenile Bull Trout abundance and associated habitat in WSR and SC,
3. Monitor water temperatures in spawning, rearing, and migratory corridors in WSR and SC,
4. Determine escapement of adult Bull Trout in the WSR,
5. Monitor spawning abundance in WSR, SC, WWR, and Jefferson Creek (JC),
6. Finalize NWPCC ISRP comments response.