Columbia Basin White Sturgeon Planning Framework
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Review Draft Review Draft Columbia Basin White Sturgeon Planning Framework Prepared for The Northwest Power & Conservation Council February 2013 Review Draft PREFACE This document was prepared at the direction of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to address comments by the Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP) in their 2010 review of Bonneville Power Administration research, monitoring, and evaluation projects regarding sturgeon in the lower Columbia River. The ISRP provided a favorable review of specific sturgeon projects but noted that an effective basin-wide management plan for white sturgeon is lacking and is the most important need for planning future research and restoration. The Council recommended that a comprehensive sturgeon management plan be developed through a collaborative effort involving currently funded projects. Hatchery planning projects by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (2007-155-00) and the Yakama Nation (2008-455-00) were specifically tasked with leading or assisting with the comprehensive management plan. The lower Columbia sturgeon monitoring and mitigation project (1986-050-00) sponsored by the Oregon and Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and the Inter-Tribal Fish Commission also agreed to collaborate on this effort and work with the Council on the plan. The Council directed that scope of the planning area include from the mouth of the Columbia upstream to Priest Rapids on the mainstem and up to Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River. The plan was also to include summary information for sturgeon areas above Priest Rapids and Lower Granite. A planning group was convened of representatives of the designated projects. Development also involved collaboration with representatives of other agencies and tribes involved in related sturgeon projects throughout the region. The process was aided by the organization of a series of three regional sturgeon workshops. A 2009 workshop identified a shared vision, goals, objectives and strategies for sturgeon conservation, management and mitigation efforts in the lower Columbia and lower Snake region. A 2010 workshop addressed critical uncertainties highlighted by the IRSP including natural recruitment limitations, genetic population structure, and sturgeon carrying capacity. A 2011 workshop addressed this basin-wide planning framework and sturgeon passage. A planning framework (this document) was drafted based on a review and synthesis of published and unpublished material regarding sturgeon in the region and proceedings of the workshops. The draft planning framework was distributed for review by other agencies and tribes with an interest in sturgeon within the region and revised based on comments from those parties. Planning Group Blaine Parker Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Tom Rien Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife Brad James Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife Ray Beamesderfer Cramer Fish Sciences Contributors Tucker Jones, Colin Chapman Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife Chad Jackson, Jeff Korth Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife Steve Parker, Bob Rose Yakama Indian Nation Jeff Dillon Idaho Department of Fish & Game Ken Lepla Idaho Power Company Jason McLellan Colville Tribes Sue Ireland Kootenai Tribe of Idaho Paul Anders Cramer Fish Sciences Barbara Taylor Consultant 1 CONTENTS PREFACE 1 CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 6 1.1 Background 6 1.2 Purpose of Framework 9 1.3 Plan Organization 9 1.4 Planning Area & Management Units 10 1.5 A Brief History of Sturgeon Planning 12 1.6 Planning & Policy Guidance 13 1.6.1 Northwest Power and Conservation Council 13 1.6.2 States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana 16 1.6.3 Columbia River Indian Tribes 19 1.6.4 U.S. v. Oregon / Columbia River Fishery Management Plan 20 1.6.5 Canada 22 1.6.6 Listing Status 23 1.6.7 FERC Licensing 24 2 SPECIES DESCRIPTION 26 2.1 Taxonomy & Morphology 26 2.2 Range 28 2.3 Life History 29 2.3.1 Spawning 30 2.3.2 Incubation & Early Life History 34 2.3.3 Food & Feeding 36 2.3.4 Movements & Habitat Use 37 2.4 Life History Parameters 39 2.4.1 Size 39 2.4.2 Age & Growth 41 2.4.3 Maturation & Fecundity 42 2.4.4 Recruitment 43 2.4.5 Survival/Mortality 44 2.5 Genetic Stock Structure 44 3 CURRENT STATUS 50 3.1 Distribution and Spatial Structure 50 3.2 Abundance 52 3.3 Productivity 55 4 OVERVIEW OF FISHERIES 56 4.1 History of White Sturgeon Fisheries 56 4.2 Current Fishery Types & Areas 59 4.2.1 Non-Indian Recreational 59 4.2.2 Non-Indian Commercial 60 4.2.3 Treaty Subsistence 60 4.2.4 Treaty Commercial 60 4.3 Harvest Guidelines, Yield, Exploitation & Effort 61 4.3.1 Below Bonneville Dam 61 Columbia Basin White Sturgeon Planning Framework Page | 2 Review Draft 4.3.2 Bonneville Dam to McNary Dam (Zone 6) 64 4.3.3 Columbia River upstream of McNary Dam 65 4.3.4 Upper Columbia 66 4.3.5 Snake River 66 5 OVERVIEW OF LIMITING FACTORS & THREATS 67 5.1 Habitat Fragmentation 67 5.2 Habitat Complexity, quantity and Quality 68 5.3 Flow & Flow Variation 69 5.4 Water Quality 71 5.5 Competition and Predation from changes in fish communities 73 5.5.1 Predation 73 5.5.2 Competition 74 5.6 Exploitation & Illegal Harvest 74 5.7 Climate Patterns & Trends 75 6 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 76 6.1 Vision 76 6.2 Goals & Objectives 76 6.3 Strategies 78 6.3.1 Improving Passage/Connectivity 78 6.3.2 Habitat Restoration 79 6.3.3 Fisheries Management 80 6.3.4 Hatcheries 80 6.4 Monitoring & Evaluation 82 6.5 Critical Uncertainties Research 82 6.6 Implementation 83 7 MANAGEMENT UNIT SUMMARIES 84 7.1 Lower Columbia (below Bonneville Dam) 84 7.1.1 Status 85 7.1.2 Limiting Factors & Threats 86 7.1.3 Plans, Objectives & Strategies 94 7.1.4 Programs, Projects, Actions & Schedules 94 7.1.5 Needs & Uncertainties 97 7.2 Lower Mid-Columbia (Bonneville Dam to Priest Rapids Dam) 99 7.2.1 Status 99 7.2.2 Limiting Factors & Threats 106 7.2.3 Plans, Objectives & Strategies 114 7.2.4 Programs, Projects, Actions & Schedules 114 7.2.5 Needs & Uncertainties 115 7.3 Upper Mid-Columbia (Priest Rapids Dam to Grand Coulee Dam) 117 7.3.1 Status 118 7.3.2 Limiting Factors & Threats 118 7.3.3 Plans, Objectives & Strategies 119 7.3.4 Programs, Projects, Actions & Schedules 121 7.3.5 Needs & Uncertainties 123 7.4 Transboundary Upper Columbia (Grand Coulee Dam to Hugh L. Keenleyside Dam) 124 7.4.1 Status 125 7.4.2 Limiting Factors & Threats 128 7.4.3 Plans, Objectives & Strategies 130 7.4.4 Programs, Projects, Actions & Schedules 131 3 7.4.5 Needs & Uncertainties 135 7.5 Headwaters Upper Columbia (Keenleyside Dam to Kinbasket Reservoir) 137 7.5.1 Status 138 7.5.2 Limiting Factors & Threats 138 7.5.3 Plans, Objectives & Strategies 140 7.5.4 Programs, Projects, Actions & Schedules 141 7.5.5 Needs & Uncertainties 141 7.6 Kootenay Lake & Kootenai River 142 7.6.1 Status 143 7.6.2 Limiting Factors & Threats 143 7.6.3 Plans, Objectives & Strategies 145 7.6.4 Programs, Projects, Actions & Schedules 148 7.6.5 Needs & Uncertainties 150 7.7 Lower Snake (Ice Harbor Dam to Lower Granite Dam) 151 7.7.1 Status 151 7.7.2 Limiting Factors & Threats 152 7.7.3 Plans, Objectives & Strategies 153 7.7.4 Programs, Projects, Actions & Schedules 153 7.7.5 Needs & Uncertainties 153 7.8 Middle Snake (Lower Granite Dam to Hells Canyon Dam) 155 7.8.1 Status 156 7.8.2 Limiting Factors and Threats 157 7.8.3 Plans, Objectives & Strategies 158 7.8.4 Programs, Projects, Actions & Schedules 160 7.8.5 Needs & Uncertainties 162 7.9 Upper Snake (Hells Canyon Dam to Shoshone Falls) 164 7.9.1 Status 169 7.9.2 Limiting Factors & Threats 169 7.9.3 Plans, Objectives & Strategies 171 7.9.4 Programs, Projects, Actions & Schedules 179 7.9.5 Needs & Uncertainties 183 8 BASIN-WIDE ASSESSMENT 184 8.1 Jurisdiction/Involvement 184 8.2 Assessment & Monitoring 185 8.3 Limiting Factors & Threats 187 8.4 Goals, Objectives & Targets 188 8.5 Strategies & Actions 189 8.6 Research Needs & Critical Uncertainties 191 9 FINDINGS 193 9.1 Conclusions 193 9.2 Critical Uncertainties 197 9.3 Research Needs 199 9.3.1 Stock Assessment 199 9.3.2 Distribution & Habitat Use 200 9.3.3 Limiting Factors 201 9.4 Conservation, Restoration & Mitigation Recommendations 204 10 REFERENCES 208 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 234 Columbia Basin White Sturgeon Planning Framework Page | 4 Review Draft GLOSSARY 236 5 INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND The Columbia basin historically supported a very large and productive population of white sturgeon that ranged from the ocean upstream in the Columbia and Snake Rivers for hundreds of miles (Figure 7). White sturgeon had access as far upstream as Windermere Lake on the Columbia River in Canada (UCWSRI 2002) and Shoshone Falls on the Snake River in Idaho (IPC 2005). Columbia River white sturgeon also mixed in the ocean with white sturgeon from populations of other large rivers along the Pacific coast. Sturgeons are uniquely adapted to large mainstem rivers like the Columbia and Snake (Beamesderfer and Farr 1997). These systems provide diverse habitats that are distributed in large-scale patterns corresponding to the surrounding topography. Habitats are extremely dynamic with large seasonal and annual variation. Distribution and abundance of prey and predator species varies widely in response to spatial and temporal patterns. Anadromous fishes, including salmon, eulachon, and lamprey historically provided tremendous seasonally-abundant food resources. Figure 1. Large white sturgeon captured from a lower mid-Columbia River reservoir for population assessment.