In the preliminary review the ISRP requested: a brief description of the currently understood population structure of bull trout; the location of the core populations in this region; more details on the sampling history in this region; a better summary of the sampling that needs to be completed from this area for the full initial status monitoring (species distribution) to be complete; a better rationalization why population size is needed - rather than just presence/absence and distribution; and that the sampling to be executed under this proposal will fill a reasonable portion of the outstanding tasks.

The sponsors prepared a thorough response to the ISRP questions, which adequately addressed the ISRP concerns. The response provided a succinct summary of the past survey work by the sponsors, the anticipated sampling in the current proposal, and an improved perspective on bull trout in this fairly remote region of southeastern Washington. They have also clarified that they will not be conducting population estimates, but one-pass electrofishing, which seems acceptable.

In this proposed phase of their study, what they are gathering is the background data to prepare a plan for the species. The personnel identified for this phase of the study seem appropriate. For any future efforts, however, more expertise may be needed to fully deal with more complex ecological and genetic considerations.