SALMON and TROUT ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM
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SALMON and TROUT ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM Annual Progress Report 2003 Edited by: Gary Galovich, STEP Coordinator Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 3406 Cherry Avenue NE Salem, OR 97303 This project was partially financed with funds obtained through the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program. CONTENTS Page Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3 STEP District Descriptions..............................................................................................................6 Development of the Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program (STEP) .......................................13 Introduction........................................................................................................................13 District Summaries.............................................................................................................13 Characterization of Fish Populations and Their Habitat in Streams..............................................23 Introduction........................................................................................................................23 District Summaries.............................................................................................................23 Habitat Improvement .....................................................................................................................33 Introduction........................................................................................................................33 District Summaries.............................................................................................................33 Fish Culture....................................................................................................................................41 Introduction........................................................................................................................41 District Summaries.............................................................................................................42 Table 1. Statewide Summary of STEP Participation.....................................................................51 Figure 1. STEP Fish Releases by Species and Stage of Fish Development. .................................52 Figure 2. STEP Fish Releases by STEP District and Stage of Fish Development. .......................52 Appendices.....................................................................................................................................53 • STEP Biologists • STEP Districts Map • STEP Advisory Committee (STAC) Members • Partial List of Groups Involved with STEP 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report summarizes the activities and accomplishments of the Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program (STEP) from October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003. Established by the Oregon Legislature in 1981, STEP is a program of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) that seeks to achieve the recovery and sustainability of the state’s native salmon and trout through the education of Oregon’s citizens and their involvement with fish management efforts. As STEP volunteers, citizen efforts to enhance fisheries and restore habitats lend critical support to the management programs of ODFW and complement the broader statewide watershed restoration objectives of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. STEP is funded by a combination of US Fish and Wildlife Service Sport Fish Restoration Program and ODFW funds (75% federal with 25% state match). The current funding provides for one ½-time program coordinator who is located in the ODFW headquarter office in Salem and ten program biologists that have been placed throughout the state in eight of the ten watershed management districts. In addition to the program staff, a Governor-appointed 13- member STEP Advisory Committee (STAC) advises the Fish and Wildlife Commission and ODFW on the STEP program. Within the watershed management district, the STEP Biologist can fill several roles including fish and habitat biologist, educator, outreach specialist, community or technical advisor and lead for volunteer management. The program works with a variety of individuals, groups and organizations including adult and youth volunteers, angling and conservation interests, watershed councils, soil and water conservation districts, private landowners, schools, individual students, and other state, federal and local government agencies. The types of projects conducted through STEP are equally diverse and are defined only by the ways that volunteers can assist with the diversity of fish management needs found throughout Oregon. The issues and priorities within individual watersheds can be unique to that geographic area thus the focus of STEP efforts can vary across the state. Generally, however, activities can be grouped into four main categories: • Education and program development: activities that inform and educate the citizens about Oregon’s salmon and trout resources, the habitats that they depend on, and the Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program (classes, information, printed materials, activities, and facility construction and maintenance). • Inventory and monitoring: activities that characterize fish populations and their habitat. Projects include stream and riparian habitat surveys, spawning surveys, and other fish sampling efforts using a variety of techniques including seining, electrofishing, juvenile migrant trapping, adult trapping, snorkeling and other methods used to research, monitor or inventory fish life history, presence/absence, distribution, or abundance. • Habitat improvement: activities that enhance, restore and protect habitat for native stocks of salmon and trout, including instream projects such as the placement of large woody debris, riparian restoration, fish passage improvement or restoration, and fish carcass placement for stream nutrient enrichment. 3 • Fish culture: activities such as releasing fry or rearing fish in propagation projects to supplement natural production and/or augment fisheries. STEP fish culture activities can often include other program objectives beyond fish production such as education or fostering stewardship and participation in other fish or habitat efforts. For example, the Classroom Incubator Program, the primary STEP activity conducted with elementary, middle and high school-age students around the state, educates youth about the development of salmon and trout from eyed eggs to fry, demonstrates the sensitivity of these fish to environmental conditions, and encourages understanding of other issues confronting fish recovery and protection. STEP has produced two manuals to accompany these projects, one of which directs participants to a broad range of project support activities beyond the incubator itself. A summary of what was accomplished by the program in each of these categories during 2003 includes: • 13,566 people participated in STEP training, classes, tours, presentations or workshops. • volunteers spent over 12,000 hours conducting creel surveys, culvert inspections, fish monitoring, and habitat surveys in streams and rivers across the state. • over 599 miles of waterways were improved for fish use by 1,068 volunteers through fish passage, instream, riparian, and carcass placement projects. • over 6,000,000 chinook, coho, steelhead, and trout were released by STEP volunteers for enhancement or augmentation purposes; over 4,000,000 of these fish were also reared before release (i.e., fed and cared for) and over 1,700,000 were marked with a fin-clip or coded-wire tag by volunteers. The Classroom Incubator Program, which is primarily an education program, released 220,345 unfed fry into Oregon waters. Finally, over 4,400 adult salmonids were collected for broodstock. As the amount of work accomplished shows, volunteers contribute a very large effort to STEP. ODFW also contributes time and resources to STEP beyond what is funded by the Sportfish Restoration grant because STEP activities are closely tied to district fish management objectives. Details can be found in Table 1, Figures 1 and 2, and the other sections of this report. Highlights of volunteer effort include: • 9,601 youth and 5,119 adults in Oregon participated in STEP. • If volunteer hours and mileage are converted to dollar values and added to actual monetary donations of supplies and services, volunteers contributed $2,357,600 to accomplish 1,319 STEP projects in 2003. • In addition to the combined state and federal contribution of over $1,000,000 for the Sport Fish Restoration-funded STEP program, ODFW contributed at least $69,000 in funding toward STEP projects, which does not include time spent on STEP projects by non-STEP staff. 4 • Given the combined state and federal contribution to the Sport Fish Restoration-funded STEP program of over $1,000,000, the returns on this money in both volunteer contributions ($2,357,600) and other ODFW contributions ($69,000 plus personnel time) toward projects was again high in 2003 and shows the value of volunteer efforts for the fish resources of Oregon. In this report for 2003, each of the STEP Biologists has provided a narrative that describes their district and gives an overview of activities in that district for each of the four main program components of STEP. These four components are: • Development of the Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program (STEP) • Characterization of Fish Populations and