The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon Presented by Rebecca McCoun, Tribal Biologist The Importance of Pacific Lamprey (Skakwal*) to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde • Subsistence • Spiritual • Medicinal • Trade & Gift Giving • Way of Life “Skakwal” is Chinook Jargon (also known as chinuk wawa) Cultural Impact Decline of species has had at least three negative impacts for the Tribes of Oregon: • Loss of fishing opportunities in traditional fishing areas. (Members of the Grand Ronde Tribe traditionally used the Salmon River & other coastal streams to harvest lamprey. These systems no longer have harvestable lamprey populations and it is illegal to harvest what is present.) • Tribes must travel greater distances to harvest lamprey With the decline of lamprey many more tribes are relying on the lamprey at the Willamette Falls. Tribes from all over Oregon come to harvest lamprey at the Falls in June and July of each year. • Loss of culture With the decline many young tribal members do not know how to catch and prepare lamprey. Many young tribal members are losing important myths and legends associated with lamprey. Pacific Lamprey Conservation • Pacific Lamprey are culturally revered and intrinsically linked with the long history of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde • The Grand Ronde Tribe wants to see the remaining Pacific Lamprey populations protected, conserved and historic populations restored. • The Grand Ronde Tribe is taking an active part in the study of the Pacific lamprey so that the species and its habitats can be effectively conserved and managed. Pacific Lamprey Background • In 2003 (USFWS) received a petition to list Pacific lamprey • In 2004, the USFWS announced the petition did not contain sufficient information to warrant further review • USFWS encouraged additional data gathering. Upstream Migration of Pacific Lamprey in the Willamette Basin (2006-2012) Project Objectives: 1. Determine timing and movement patterns during upstream migrations 2. Identify over-wintering locations 3. Determine relative use of primary tributaries for spawning 4. Formulate management recommendations CTGR Pacific Lamprey Research 2006 CTGR Pilot Lamprey Study • USGS/PGE tagged 109 Pacific lamprey at the Willamette Falls. Fish were released below the Falls. Only 24 passed the Falls. • CTGR placed 9 fixed receivers on the Upper Willamette tributaries and on the main stem Willamette to track migration. • Boat tracked main stem as well. • Tracking took place late 2006 and in 2007. • CTGR detected 5 of the 24 fish that passed while boat tracking. An additional tagged fish was detected at the Tribe’s fixed receiver site on the Santiam. COLLABORATION . 2008 - CTGR tagged and tracked lamprey with fixed receivers & by mobile tracking. 2009 & 2010 - CTGR & Cramer tracked fish using the fix telemetry sites. - CTGR and OSU worked together to boat tracking. - OSU conducted aerial tracking. June 2011 - CTGR took over downloading 11 receivers for Cramer. CTGR tagged 120 lamprey in the spring and summer of 2011. Currently tracking lamprey with fixed receivers and by boat. ____________________________________________________ Tagging Summary 2008 (CTGR) 2009 (CTGR, CRAMER, PGE,OSU) 2010 (CTGR, CRAMER,OSU) 2011(CTGR) 111 206 219 120 2008 Tagging –At the Falls Tagging –At ODFW Fish Ladder 2009, 2010, 2011 Molalla River at Veolia Water Boat tracking- Bernert’s Treatment Plant Landing, West Linn (Lamprey Study Release Point) Fixed Site Locations River Mile Mainstem Tributary Organization 24 Clackamas CFS Willamette Falls 26 Tualatin CTGR 28 West Linn CTGR 30 Rock Island CFS 37 Molalla CTGR 37 Pudding CFS 46 Champoeg Park CFS 54 Evergreen CTGR 55 Yamhill CTGR 87 Eola CFS 106 Buena Vista CFS 108 Santiam CTGR 108 NF Santiam CFS 108 Luckiamute CTGR 119 Calapooia CTGR 131 Corvallis CFS 133 Mary's CTGR 148 Long Tom CFS 161 Harrisburg CFS 175 Mckenzie CTGR 180 Eugene CTGR 187 Coast Fork CFS 2008 Tracking Results In August 2008 111fish tagged Number of Lampreys Detected 17 fish detected in Upper Detection Sites in 2008 Willamette River Tributaries. Tualatin River 0 36 additional tagged fish were Molalla River 4 detected boat tracking. Yamhill River 8 Luckiamute River 3 We detected a total of 62 of the 111 fish tagged and released. Santiam River 3 Calapooia River 0 56% Detected Mary's River 0 McKenzie River 0 Willamette near West Linn 8 Willamette near Dundee 0 Willamette in Eugene 1 Willamette River Boat Tracking 36 Total 62 Important to Note In 2008 all the lamprey were tagged in August. Sample did not capture entire run. Protocol at that time was to tag lamprey with a girth of 10cm or larger. (Moser et al. (2002) and those outlined by USGS in the scope of work for Willamette Falls (Mesa et al. 2005) 14 fish detected close to release site had girths of 10 cm or slightly under. (Dropped tag, fish mortality ?) Tagging protocol was changed in 2009 to have the minimum tagging girth of 10.5cm. 2009 Tracking Results 57 out of 150 lampreys tagged by PGE passed the Falls. Tributary Detection Number of Lamprey (5 of PGE’S tags were not detected Sites Detections again after passing) Tualatin 1 Molalla 4 149 lamprey tagged by Cramer were released above the Falls. Pudding 2 Yamhill 6 Total Sample Size above the Falls Luckiamute 2 was 206. Santiam 8 We detected 51 of these fish in North Fork Santiam 10 Upper Willamette River Tributaries. South Fork Santiam 4 We detected 135 fish in the main Mary's River 3 stem. Long Tom 1 90% Detected McKenzie 2 Coast Fork 5 Total 51 2009 Tags – Last Detection Location in Main Stem Location Last Detected Number of Tagged Fish RM 29-50 (Upstream of Tualatin to 21 Newberg Pool) RM 51-100 (Newberg Pool to just 50 below Independence) RM 101-150 (Upstream of 32 Independence to the Long Tom) RM 151-180 16 (Long Tom to Eugene) Upper Willamette Tributaries Used by 2009 Tagged Fish Coast Fork McKenzie Long Tom Mary's River Calapooia SF Santiam NF Santiam Santiam Tributary Tributary Luckiamute Yamhill Pudding Molalla Tualatin 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Number of Fish Tributary Entry for 2009 Tagged Fish Tributary Number of Fish 33 of the 206 moved up into Tualatin River 1 tributaries the year they Molalla River 3 were tagged. Pudding River 2 Yamhill River 4 Luckiamute River 2 Month of Entry # of Lamprey Santiam 5 May 9 NF Santiam 8 June 5 July 12 SF Santiam 3 August 1 Calapooia River 1 November 2 Mary's River 1 Unknown 4 Total 33 McKenzie 2 Coast Fork 1 Tributary Entry for 2009 fish Continued into 2010 18 of the 206 fish entered into a Tributary Number of Fish tributary the following winter Molalla 1 and spring of 2010. Yamhill 2 Santiam 3 NF Santiam 2 Month of Entry # of Lamprey Janurary 7 SF Santiam 1 February 2 Calapooia 2 March 7 Mary‘s 2 April 1 Long Tom 1 May 1 Coast Fork 4 Total 18 Total 18 Months of Tributary Entry for 2009 Tagged Fish 14 12 10 8 6 Number of Fish of Number 4 2 0 Month of Entry What is going on with the Pudding? Number of Fish that Visited the Pudding River in 2009 Entry Date # of Fish 6/26/2009 1 6/27/2009 2 20 6/28/2009 2 6/29/2009 2 15 6/30/2009 18 7/1/2009 8 10 7/2/2009 1 7/3/2009 3 Number Fish of Number 7/4/2009 3 5 7/6/2009 1 7/7/2009 1 0 .Temperature Refuge? Dates of Entry .Attracting Agent –Pheromones? . Main stem Avoidance Behavior? 2010 Tracking Efforts CTGR tagged 119 Pacific lamprey and released them above the Falls Tributary Detection Number of Site Unique Hits Cramer tagged 100 lamprey and released Tualatin 2 them above the Falls. Molalla 8 Total Sample Size above the Falls is 219. Pudding 0 Yamhill 7 69 of the 219 fish entered into tributaries Luckiamute 2 Santiam 16 95% Detection NF Santiam 18 SF Santiam 7 Calapooia 4 Mary's River 0 Long Tom 0 McKenzie 4 Coast Fork 1 Total 69 2010 Study : Last Detection Location in Main stem Location Last Detected Number of Tagged Fish RM 29-50 (Upstream of Tualatin to Newberg 9 Pool) RM 51-100 (Newberg Pool to just upstream of 52 Independence) RM 101-150 (Upstream of Independence to the 42 Long Tom) RM 151-180 29 (Long Tom to Eugene) Upper Willamette Tributaries used by 2010 Tagged Fish Coast Fork McKenzie Long Tom Mary's River Calapooia SF Santiam NF Santiam Tributary Santiam Luckiamute Yamhill Pudding Molalla Tualatin 0 5 10 15 20 Number of Detections Tributary Entry 2010 Tagged Fish 57 of the 219 moved up Tributary Number of Fish into tributaries the year Tualatin 2 they were tagged Molalla 8 # of Pudding 0 Month of Entry Lamprey Yamhill 6 May 3 June 18 Luckiamute 0 June/July 3 Santiam 13 July 9 NF Santiam 16 July/August 4 August 10 SF Santiam 5 September 1 Calapooia 3 November 5 McKenzie 3 December 1 Unknown 3 Coast Fork 1 Total 57 Total 57 Tributary Entry of 2010 fish continued into 2011 12 fish tagged in 2010 moved Number of Tributary into tributaries the following Fish winter and spring of 211 Yamhill 1 Luckiamute 2 Santiam 3 Entry Month # of Lamprey NF Santiam 2 January 1 March 4 SF Santiam 2 April 2 Calapooia 1 May 2 McKenzie 1 Unknown 3 Total 12 Total 12 Month of Entry for the 2010 Tagged Fish 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 Number Fish of Number 6 4 2 0 Month 2011-2012 Lamprey Research Continues… CTGR tagged 120 fish from April through August of 2011.