Malheur River Subbasin Assessment and Management Plan For Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Management Plan Malheur Watershed Council And Burns Paiute Tribe May, 2004 Prepared with assistance of: Watershed Professionals Network, LLC Boise, Idaho. Malheur River Subbasin Assessment and Management Plan For Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Management Plan Submitted to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, Portland, Oregon Prepared Jointly by: Malheur Watershed Council Ontario, Oregon And Burns Paiute Tribe Burns, Oregon May, 2004 Prepared with technical assistance of: Steve Bauer, Ed Salminen, Nancy Napp, Kirk Prindle (EDAW) Watershed Professionals Network, LLC Boise, Idaho. Malheur River Subbasin Assessment and Management Plan For Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Management Plan Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE ....................................................................................................................1 1.2 ORGANIZATION OF DOCUMENT........................................................................................................1 1.3 DESCRIPTION OF PLANNING ENTITY ................................................................................................2 1.4 PARTICIPANTS IN THE MALHEUR SUBBASIN PLAN.............................................................................3 1.5 STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT PROCESS..........................................................................................4 1.6 OVERALL APPROACH......................................................................................................................6 1.7 PROCESS AND SCHEDULE FOR REVISING/UPDATING THE PLAN ........................................................7 2 Vision for the Subbasin ......................................................................................... 9 2.1 EXISTING STAKEHOLDER PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES................................................................11 2.1.1 Soil and Water Conservation Goals ......................................................................................11 2.1.2 Aquatic Species Goals ..........................................................................................................12 2.1.3 Bull Trout Recovery Goals ....................................................................................................12 2.1.4 Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat Goals ........................................................................................12 3 Subbasin Physical Setting .................................................................................. 14 3.1 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS ........................................................................................................14 3.2 GEOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................16 3.3 SOILS ..........................................................................................................................................16 3.4 CLIMATE ......................................................................................................................................16 3.5 WATERBODIES AND WATER USE...................................................................................................17 4 Aquatic Assessment Summary........................................................................... 19 4.1 AQUATIC FOCAL SPECIES .............................................................................................................19 4.1.1 Bull Trout ...............................................................................................................................20 4.1.2 Redband Trout.......................................................................................................................22 4.1.3 Spring Chinook Salmon.........................................................................................................24 4.2 PERFORMANCE MEASURES ..........................................................................................................25 4.2.1 Introduction to Performance Measures .................................................................................25 4.2.2 Channel Stability or Channel Geomorphology ......................................................................26 4.2.3 Riparian Condition.................................................................................................................27 4.2.4 Flow Conditions.....................................................................................................................28 4.2.5 Reference Condition for Other Habitat Attributes..................................................................29 4.3 SUMMARY OF AQUATIC LIMITING FACTORS AT THE BASIN SCALE....................................................30 4.3.1 Methods.................................................................................................................................30 4.3.2 Channel Conditions ...............................................................................................................31 4.3.3 Riparian Conditions ...............................................................................................................33 4.3.4 Low Flow Conditions .............................................................................................................35 4.3.5 Obstructions ..........................................................................................................................37 4.4 AQUATIC BIOLOGICAL OBJECTIVES ...............................................................................................40 4.4.1 Channel Conditions ...............................................................................................................41 4.4.2 Riparian Conditions ...............................................................................................................41 4.4.3 Low Flow Conditions .............................................................................................................42 Malheur River Subbasin i Management Plan May, 2004 4.4.4 Obstructions ..........................................................................................................................43 4.4.5 Other Attributes .....................................................................................................................44 4.5 BASIN SCALE LIMITING FACTORS NOT ADDRESSED IN QHA ...........................................................44 4.5.1 Major Dams ...........................................................................................................................44 4.5.2 Exotic Species.......................................................................................................................45 4.6 SUBBASIN WIDE HYPOTHESIS........................................................................................................45 5 Terrestrial Assessment Summary ...................................................................... 48 5.1 TERRESTRIAL FOCAL SPECIES......................................................................................................48 5.2 TERRESTRIAL HABITAT CONDITIONS..............................................................................................50 5.2.1 Characterization of Historic Condition...................................................................................50 5.2.2 Characterization of Current Habitat.......................................................................................51 5.3 BIOLOGICAL OBJECTIVES AND LIMITING FACTORS..........................................................................52 5.3.1 Terrestrial Focal Species Status and Limiting Factors..........................................................53 5.3.2 Optimal Habitat Characteristics for Focal Species................................................................54 5.3.3 Biological Objectives for Focal Species ................................................................................55 5.3.4 Key Limiting Factors for Habitats ..........................................................................................56 5.3.5 Biological Objectives for Habitats..........................................................................................58 5.3.6 Summary Tables of Biological Objectives.............................................................................59 5.3.7 Habitats for High Priority Protection ......................................................................................62 5.3.8 Habitat to Reestablish Access...............................................................................................62 5.3.9 Habitat for Restoration ..........................................................................................................63 5.4 SUBBASIN WIDE HYPOTHESIS........................................................................................................63 6 Strategies.............................................................................................................. 65 6.1 INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGIES ....................................................................................................65 6.2 PROJECTS AND RESTORATION METHODS ......................................................................................66 6.3 STRATEGY TABLES.......................................................................................................................68