HR: 14:15h
AN: B53B-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Incorporating Geomorphological and Biological Processes Into Recovery Planning Strategies for Listed Salmonids in the Pacific Northwest
AU: Ruckelshaus, M
EM: mary.ruckelshaus@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Fisheries--NW Fisheries Science Center, 2725 Montlake Blvd E, Seattle, WA 98112 United States
AU: * Beechie, T
EM: tim.beechie@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Fisheries--NW Fisheries Science Center, 2725 Montlake Blvd E, Seattle, WA 98112 United States
AU: Lagueux, K
EM: kerry.lagueux@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Fisheries--NW Fisheries Science Center, 2725 Montlake Blvd E, Seattle, WA 98112 United States
AU: Haas, A
EM: Andy.Haas@co.snohomish.wa.us
AF: Snohomish County Public Works Department, Surface Water Mgt Division, 2731 Wetmore Ave., Suite 300, Everett, WA 98201 United States
AB: A number of species of Pacific salmonids are listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act due to a combination of habitat loss and degradation, hatchery programs, and harvest practices. Efforts are underway throughout the geographic ranges of the listed salmon to develop recovery plans describing the necessary conditions for delisting. Habitat restoration strategies in some watershed recovery plans address the functioning of landscape processes that create and sustain stream habitats, in addition to the traditional focus on instream habitat conditions and their effects on salmon populations. Including restoration approaches that aim to improve habitat-forming processes is a step forward in addressing the root causes of habitat problems for salmon. In this talk, we illustrate how GIS-based analyses indicating the degree of impairment to sediment supply, stream flows, and riparian functions were used to help identify restoration strategies for Chinook salmon populations in a watershed in Puget Sound, WA. We first developed empirical relationships between landscape attributes (i.e., land cover, geology and forest road density) and processes or conditions (stream flows, riparian zone condition, large wood recruitment, and sediment supply rates). Then we summarized those landscape attributes in all sub-basins within the watershed to indicate the likely current condition of peak flow hydrology, riparian function, and sediment supply. Finally, we quantified the degree of impairment in these 3 processes relative to their likely historical rates or conditions, and classified sub-basins into groupings of common restoration strategies. Specific habitat restoration actions aimed at redressing the riparian, sediment, and flow problems at their sources were identified separately for each sub-basin strategy group. We explored the potential effects of 3 alternative restoration approaches on the status of Chinook salmon populations at the watershed scale using a fish-habitat population dynamic model. Modeling results indicate that one of the restoration strategies would improve salmon population status enough to achieve viability goals adopted by the watershed planning group. The multi-stakeholder planning group in the watershed used our results as the basis for approving the habitat restoration strategy, which is now part of the recovery plan for Puget Sound Chinook.
DE: 1824 Geomorphology (1625)
DE: 1860 Runoff and streamflow
DE: 6620 Science policy
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly