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Suction Dredge Mining Impacts on Pacific Lamprey Populations and Habitat in Washington State: a Case Study of the Entiat River

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Suction Dredge Mining Impacts on Pacific Lamprey Populations and Habitat in Washington State: a Case Study of the Entiat River Suction dredge mining impacts on Pacific lamprey populations and habitat in Washington State: A case study of the Entiat River __________________________________ A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty Central Washington University ___________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science Cultural and Environmental Resource Management ___________________________________ by Jaime Lee Liljegren August 2019 CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Graduate Studies We hereby approve the thesis of Jaime Lee Liljegren Candidate for the degree of Master of Science APPROVED FOR THE GRADUATE FACULTY ______________ _________________________________________ Dr. Anthony Gabriel, Committee Chair ______________ _________________________________________ Dr. Karl Lillquist ______________ _________________________________________ Dr. Clay Arango ______________ _________________________________________ Dean of Graduate Studies ii ABSTRACT SUCTION DREDGE MINING IMPACTS ON PACIFIC LAMPREY POPULATIONS AND HABITAT IN WASHINGTON STATE: A CASE STUDY OF THE ENTIAT RIVER by Jaime Liljegren Suction dredge mining is a largely unregulated recreational activity in Washington State with potentially significant impacts to aquatic habitat. Although dredging has the potential to cause Widespread ecological effects, only impacts to select species have been thoroughly assessed. Due to their reliance on freshwater habitat throughout multiple life stages, Pacific lamprey are significantly vulnerable to impacts from dredging practices. This thesis focuses on assessing the effects of dredging to lamprey habitat Within state-owned aquatic lands of Washington. Pacific lamprey are anadromous, utilizing freshwater habitat throughout key life stages including spaWning in substrate ranging from coarse gravel to fine sand, and burrowing into streambeds as larvae to grow for a maximum of seven years (Pirtle et al., 2003; Graham and Brun, 2006). By conducting a controlled dredging experiment along the Entiat River and comparing alterations to water quality and stream morphology before and immediately after dredging, two months later, and at the beginning of the following season, changes to habitat Were quantified. When water quality was assessed, no significant impact to parameter levels Were observed. Although changes to overall grainsize proportions Were small, distributions showed coarser material directly at dredged sites, While finer material iii increased downstream. Channel profiles showed reductions in material following dredging, as well as minimal recovery two months after the activity and at the beginning of the following season. Artificially created tailings piles Were observed to experience a 55.40% reduction in material volume over two months, While total hole volume showed a contrasting increase of 8.10%. Additionally, tailings experienced a 100% reduction in volume 11 months following dredging activity While dredge holes Were reduced by 9.6%. Results can be related to habitat preferences of other aquatic species to determine ecosystem-Wide impacts as well as providing necessary data to extrapolate impacts to similar systems throughout the state. Using these results, I provided recommendations to apply throughout management decisions and developed further recommendations for research. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Funding for this research was provided by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Thank you to Joy Polston-Barnes and Cinde Donoghue from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Aquatics Assessment and Monitoring Team. Thank you to the Central Washington University Office of Graduate Studies and Research for the Summer Research Fellowship and the Kittitas County Audubon Society for the Kittitas Audubon Scholarship. Each funding source was essential towards this research. Thank you to my thesis chair, Dr. Anthony Gabriel, for all of the guidance and support provided throughout the entire process. His assistance was critical to the success of this thesis. Thank you to committee members Dr. Karl Lillquist, and Dr. Clay Arango for their technical guidance and revieW. In addition, this work could not have been accomplished without the assistance of Cristopher Morton, David Cordner, Zach Gabriel, interns with the Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group including Josh Boston, Robert Faulk, and Brandon Beskow, and other volunteers that helped with field work including Lucas Nardella, Scott Kugel, Adam Riffle, and Beth Macinko as well as Monica Reece-Bruya for the assistance she provided with logistical paperwork. And finally, thank you to all my friends and family who have provided support throughout the entire process. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 Problem ................................................................................................................. 1 Purpose ................................................................................................................. 4 Significance .......................................................................................................... 6 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 8 Placer Mining History and Development ............................................................. 8 Suction Dredge Types ........................................................................................ 11 Regulations in the American West ..................................................................... 15 Placer and Suction Dredge Mining Distribution ................................................ 20 Impact Studies of Suction Dredge Mining to Channel Geomorphology ........... 21 Pacific Lamprey Distribution ............................................................................. 26 Dredging Effects to Pacific Lamprey ................................................................. 29 3 STUDY AREA ...................................................................................................... 33 Geographic Setting ............................................................................................. 33 Watershed Geology and Geomorphology .......................................................... 34 Fishes .................................................................................................................. 39 Weather and Climate .......................................................................................... 40 Hydrology ........................................................................................................... 42 OWnership and Land Use ................................................................................... 44 Sources of Disturbance in the Watershed ........................................................... 44 4 METHODS ............................................................................................................ 46 Habitat Characterization ..................................................................................... 48 Dredging Experiment ......................................................................................... 55 Water Quality and Sample Collection ................................................................ 61 Cross-Section Mapping ...................................................................................... 63 Feature Measurement ......................................................................................... 65 Post-Processing and Statistical Analyses ........................................................... 67 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) 5 RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 73 Habitat Characterization ..................................................................................... 73 Water Quality ..................................................................................................... 79 Wolman Pebble Counts .................................................................................... 101 Sediment Sample Compositions ....................................................................... 103 Alterations to Channel Morphology ................................................................. 107 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Alterations to Water Quality ............................................................................ 135 Alterations to Channel Morphology ................................................................ 143 Channel Bed Recovery Rates ........................................................................... 149 Other Significant Effects to Lamprey ............................................................... 151 Cumulative Effects ........................................................................................... 152 Future Research ................................................................................................ 154 Management Recommendations ...................................................................... 156 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 158 APPENDIXES .................................................................................................... 170 Appendix A .....................................................................................................
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