Native Fish of the Upper Deschutes Status and Recommended Restoration Actions Crooked River Deschutes River - Middle and Upper Reaches Metolius River Native Fish of the Upper Deschutes: Status and Recommended Restoration Actions A Native Fish Society report. June 28, 2010 H. Tom Davis PE, Project Manager and Co-author Clair Kunkel, Fish Biologist and Co-author Russell Bassett, Production Manager For an electronic version of this report, please visit www.nativefishsociety.org Introduction This report is intended for citizen advocates. The goal is to provide a concise summary of current issues and problems for native salmonids in the Upper Deschutes and describe the actions needed to resolve those problems. It is based on information from all federal and Oregon agencies involved in the upper Deschutes. Discussions were held with staff members from those agencies as needed to provide and interpret the hundreds of data sets, papers and reports pertinent to Upper Deschutes issues. Tom Davis, PE is the primary author of this report prepared for the Native Fish Society. Tom is a hydrologist and water resources engineer (MSCE – University of Idaho) with emphasis on groundwater-surfacewater hydrology, water quality, nonpoint source controls, fish habitat impacts, wastewater, stormwater, erosion and floodplain analysis. Clair Kunkel (MS Fisheries, Oregon State University) was a contributing author and provided report sections regarding fish biology and habitat impacts. Clair is retired following a 31-year career as a biologist and manager with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). Russell Bassett, NFS River Steward Coordinator, reviewed and formatted the report for printing. The regulatory process for managing fish and their habitats is very complex, and is not covered extensively in this document. Readers interested in more detail regarding this should contact the following: • The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) manages fish in Oregon, but has little direct authority regarding watershed activities that damage fish habitat.http://www.dfw.state.or.us/ • The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) implements state-federal water quality laws except as related to agriculture, logging/forest practices and land use. http://www.oregon.gov/DEQ/ • The Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) is responsible for administering Oregon water law. http://www. wrd.state.or.us/OWRD/about_us.shtml • Oregon Dept. of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) - http://www.lcd.state.or.us/ • Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) - http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/ • Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) - http://www.oregon.gov/ODF/ • Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) - http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/index • The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation (CTWS) - co-manages the Deschutes subbasin fisheries - http://www.warmsprings.com/warmsprings/Tribal_Services/Natural_Resources/ • Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests (USFS) - http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/ • Us Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) - http://www.usbr.gov/pn/ • US Bureau of Land Management, Prineville (BLM) - http://www.blm.gov/or/index.php • US Fish & Wildlife Service, Oregon (USF&WS) - http://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/ • US National Marine Fisheries Service Northwest (NOAA) - http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/ • The Crooked River Watershed Council, http://crookedriver.deschutesriver.org/; Deschutes Land Trust, Deschutes River Conservancy, http://www.deschutesriver.org/; and Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, http://www. restorethedeschutes.org/; are described in Appendix B. The related citizen groups are also described in Appendix B. 1 Table of Contents 1) Summary ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 2) Relationships Between the Upper and Lower Deschutes ............................................................................ 4 3) Actions ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 4) Oregon’s Poor Protection and Restoration of Habitat ................................................................................ 10 The Bull Trout Critical Habitat Example ................................................................................................ 12 5) Description - Upper Deschutes Basin ........................................................................................................ 13 Metolius Subbasin ................................................................................................................................... 13 Upper Deschutes Subbasin ...................................................................................................................... 14 Crooked Subbasin ..................................................................................................................... .............. 16 6) Native Fish of the Upper Deschutes ......................................................................................................... 17 Bull Trout ................................................................................................................................................ 17 Redband Trout ......................................................................................................................................... 18 Mountain Whitefish ................................................................................................................................. 19 Other Native Resident Fish ...................................................................................................................... 20 Summer Steelhead .................................................................................................................................... 21 Spring Chinook Salmon ........................................................................................................................ ... 22 Sockeye/Kokanee Salmon ......................................................................................................................... 22 Pacific Lamprey ......................................................................................................................................... 23 Anadromous Fish Issues ............................................................................................................................ 24 Introduced Salmonids ................................................................................................................................ 26 Other Non-native Fish ............................................................................................................................... 29 7) Surfacewater – Groundwater ....................................................................................................................... 29 Fish Passage and Connectivity .................................................................................................................. 29 Surfacewater and Groundwater Relationships .......................................................................................... 30 Oregon Groundwater Mitigation Program ................................................................................................ 33 Groundwater Pollution and the Impacts on Surface Water ....................................................................... 34 Flow and Habitat Issues ............................................................................................................................ 34 8) Invasive/Nuisance Species .......................................................................................................................... 42 9) Instream and Watershed Improvement Measures Needed .......................................................................... 43 Water Quality ............................................................................................................................................ 43 Riparian Zone ............................................................................................................................................ 47 Forest Management ................................................................................................................................... 51 Agriculture ................................................................................................................................................ 56 Erosion – Existing and Potential ............................................................................................................... 61 Enforceable Requirements ........................................................................................................................ 63 10) Land Uses, Practices, Development and Planning/Control ...................................................................... 63 Erosion Controls ....................................................................................................................................... 64 Destination Resorts ................................................................................................................................... 64 Legal ......................................................................................................................................................... 65 County Plans and Protections ..................................................................................................................