Copper River Watershed Project’s FishWatch Program
Copper River Watershed Residents Working Together to Monitor Fish Habitat
Prepared by Becky Clausen, FishWatch Coordinator Copper River Watershed Project What’s the Problem?
Trans-Alaska Pipeline crosses 4 primary tributaries, 76 fish streams total, 1/5 of TAPS travels through Copper River drainage Fragmented resource management Tourism and recreational growth: “Klutina: Like the Kenai 50 Years Ago!”, FishAlaska magazine, Nov./Dec. 2003 “Fish Like there’s no tomorrow: Trials and Tribulations of the Wild & Scenic Gulkana”, FishAlaska magazine, July 2002.
FishWatch Supporters
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation American Seafoods Alaska Fund for the Future U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service George H. and Jane A. Mifflin Memorial Fund Norcross Wildlife Foundation Patagonia Ecotrust U.S. Forest Service Copper River Watershed Project members FishWatch Volunteers
Allen, Suzanne and Jesse Matt Obermiller Marquette Carl Bowman, Rather Rough It Dean Barlip Charters Linda, Tyee, Teal and Tree Lohse Lin Perry-Plake Phil Collins The Voley Family Mark Cummings Dave Wellman and Kenny Lake Staci Devenport, Gulkana Village High School Council Ruth McHenry Carl Fisher Janelle Eklund & Paul Boos Sam Greenwood Joshua Hughes Kirsti Jurica Rex Henderson Adam and Emily Low Jim & Cathy Leonard, BLM Vicky Penwell Campground Host Scott and Ladonna Rees Guenter Maurer Danny, Arlene, Hannah, Garrett Gary Martinek and Dirck Rosenkrans Rick Young Smyke Family Molly McCormick Karen and Steven Swartzbart NVE Water Resource Techs. FishWatch Planning Team
Copper Basin Representatives: Cordova Representatives: Ken Hodges, Chugach National Forest Eric Veach, Wrangell - St. Elias National Steve Moffitt, ADF&G Cordova Park and Preserve Tom Taube, ADF&G Glennallen Dan Ashe, ADF&G Cordova Lin Perry-Plake, ADF&G Glennallen Paul Swartzbart, CRWP Habitat Ken Roberson, Private fisheries consultant Restoration Planner Janelle Eklund, CRWP President Keith VanDenBroek, Native Village of Eyak Joe Hart, Chitina Corporation Dirk Lang, Chugach National Forest David Finnesand, Chitina Traditional Indian Dan Logan, Chugach National Forest Village Council Deyna Kuntzsch, Chugach National Forest Wilson Justin, Mt. Sanford Tribal Gordie Reeves, Pacific NW Research Consortium Station, USFS Chantelle Pence, Mt. Sanford Tribal Consortium Bruce Rogers, BLM Rick Young, Tazlina Village Council Staci Devenport, Gulkana Village Council Gary Martinek, PWSAC Gulkana Hatchery FishWatch Study Questions
What are the baseline fish habitat conditions in selected streams and lakes in the Copper River watershed?
What are the current use levels of boaters and fishers on selected streams and lakes in the Copper River watershed?
What is the amount of increase of boat traffic and fishing effort on selected streams and lakes in the Copper River watershed over a multiple year time frame?
Are there sites that would benefit from restoration and further analysis? Quality Assurance Project Plan
Who will monitor?
What parameters will be monitored?
Where will sites be monitored?
When will sites be monitored?
Approved by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Volunteer Trainings Objectives:
Understand basic stream ecology Collect water quality information Identify aquatic insects Record levels of human use Parameters to Monitor
Water Quality Indicators Human Use Indicators
Temperature Number of vehicles at pH fishing holes Dissolved Oxygen Number of boaters/rafters Nitrate Concentration on river Macro-invertebrate survey Riparian Vegetation survey FishWatch Monitoring Sites
Water Quality Monitoring Sites Human Use Monitoring Sites Paxson Lake Eyak Lake (3 sites) and River Paxson Lake Gulkana River Tanada Creek Gulkana River Crosswind Lake Alaganik Slough Klutina River Klutina River 18 Mile Stream Copper River, Chitina - Cordova Willow Creek Eccles Creek Eyak River Little Tonsina River Ahtel Creek Ibeck Creek Long Lake Fish Creek Alaganik Slough Kenny Lake Rufus Creek 18 Mile Stream Sinona Creek Squirrel Creek Copper River, Chetaslina - Tonsina FishWatch Sites FishWatch Monitoring Schedule
Delta Human Use = Once per week
Basin Human Use = 2-3 times per week
Delta Water Quality = Once per month
Basin Water Quality = Once per month 2004 Temperature
12.0
10.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
k e k r a k e in eir W reek Cree 18 Mil l ons ke c Slough s Cree yak River te a i E enny Lake axon Lake ow Creek n Ah Fish Creek K ttle T P ill a ccle yak Lakeyak #1 Lake #2 i g L Rufus C inona Cree W ag E E E Eyak Lake #3 Gulkana Riv L on S Squirrel TanadaCreek Creek l L A Long Lake Creek
June July August .Sept 2004 pH
slightly basic slightly acidic 10.0 9.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0
lough S
ganic Ala 2004 Dissolved Oxygen
12.0
10.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
h ug lo S ic an g Ala 2002 Macroinvertebrate Survey Sit e June July August Septemb er Eyak River 1 stonefly 1 mayfly 1 stonefly 10 aqu atic 2 ca dd isflies 1 cadd isfly 1 aquatic mites 3 snails 100 aqu atic mite 1 bee tle 12 aqu atic mites mites 1 w orm 1 w orm 12 wor ms 11 wor ms
Alaga nik 20 cadd isflies 12 stoneflies 10 aqu atic 5 midges Slough 20 0 mit es 10 aqu atic mites 2 craneflies 10 damse lflies mites 1 snail 2 snails 25 wor ms 3 snails 5 w orms 4 w orms eul ach on, sockeye salmon 18 Miles 50 cadd isflies 3 ca dd isflies 5 aquatic 1 cadd isfly Stream 10 0 mit es 12 aqu atic mites 15 aqu atic 10 snails mites 2 bee tles mites 50 clams 7 w orms 2 snails 60 bee tles 40 wor ms 1 leech 1 clam s 2 snails 1 w orm Klutin a Lake , 6 mayflies No sample 35 mayflies No sa mple near outlet 25 stoneflies 40 ca dd isflies 100 aqu atic mites 50 wor ms Willow Creek No sample 8 mayflies 10 ca dd isflies No sa mple 2 stoneflies 1 aquatic 3 ca dd isflies mite 2 bl ack flies 2 bee tles 2 bee tles 3 snails 1 damselfly 1 beave r dam 1 scud 1 snail 3 w orms 2004 Human Use Eyak River Boat Launch Silver 25 Eyak River Boat Launch Salmon Season! Vehicles# 25 20 Boat Trailers# Boats# Vehicles in Water# 20 15 Fishing# Boat Trailerson Shore# # Boats in Water # Fishing on Shore 15 10
10 5
5 0
0 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 0 0 0 0 0 000 0 20 2000 20 2000 20 2 2000 20 /2000 20 5/20 / 9/2 / 3/20 0/ / / 7/ / / / 6/ 1 7/ 1 /17/2 8/ /14/2000 9/4 6/12 6/ 6/26 7/ 7 7/24 7/31 8 8/21 4 8/28 9/11/20009/18 04 04 0 04 04 / 5/ / 9/ 6/6/04 7/4/04 2 8/1/04 8/8/ 9/5/04 1 6/13/04 6/20/04 6/27/04 7/11/04 7/18 7/ 8/15/04 8/22/04 8/29 9/12/04 9/ 2004 Human Use Gulkana at Sourdough
70 4th of 60 July Vehicles# 50 Boat Trailers# Boats in Water# 40 Fishing on Shore#
30
20
10
0 3-Jul 5-Jun 10-Jul 17-Jul 24-Jul 31-Jul 7-Aug 12-Jun 19-Jun 26-Jun 14-Aug 21-Aug 28-Aug FishWatch Results
Baseline water quality data
Baseline human use data
Identified 1 restoration site: inlet stream to Trout Lake, Chitina
Identified 1 site for further study: Long Lake Volunteers Wanted!
All ages welcome Free training workshops CRWP supplies equipment Learn more about a stream in your backyard! Next Steps for FishWatch?
Develop an Overall Habitat Conditions Index for the Copper River Watershed: • Delineate sub-watersheds • Stratify sub-watersheds by identified threats • Zoom in on high-value sites within priority sub-watersheds • Select indicators for high priority sites • Plan rotation schedule for data collection in the three tiers of sub-watersheds
Fish Habitat Concerns Prioritized by Sub-basin Habitat Conditions Index Development Future Work Steps:
• Analyze aerial photography of high value sites for coarse, first cut at site characteristics, summer 2005 • FishWatch Planning Team and contract habitat biologist draft list of indicators, fall 2005