Project Title

PIT tag antennas in the East Twin River. PIT tagged and paint marked coho smolt.

Intensively Monitored Watersheds (IMW):   the effects of watershed restoration on survival and movement of juvenile salmonids in Olympic Peninsula streams

Description

Restoration activities in the Pacific Northwest often include the placement of large woody debris, creation of off-channel habitats, and other restoration activities to ameliorate conditions in streams that have been degraded by logging and other human activities.  One critical missing piece of information is the effects these restoration activities have on survival and movement of fish throughout a watershed and within restored reaches. We use PIT tag technology to answer the following specific hypotheses at the watershed, reach, and habitat unit scale:

1. What is the effect of habitat restoration activities at the watershed-scale on survival, growth and migration timing of fish?
2. Do survival, growth and movement differ among tributaries and reach types within a watershed, and how will that influence response to restoration in different parts of the watershed?
3. What is the effect of reach-level restoration efforts (i.e., large wood placement) on survival, movement, and growth? Do these factors differ between treatment and control reaches?
4. Do survival, growth and movement differ among habitat types (e.g., pools, riffles, glides) and can we improve survival by creating more pool habitats?

This study is one component of the Intensively Monitored Watersheds Program – a cooperative effort led by the Washington Department of Ecology to evaluate restoration activities in multiple watersheds. We have tagged approximately 20,000 fish in East and West Twin Rivers since 2004 and have stationary PIT tag readers recording fish movements in and out of the watersheds throughout the year. East Twin River has ongoing restoration efforts and West Twin River is the control. We are exploring addition of a PIT tag reader and tagging efforts to another nearby treatment stream (Deep Creek) in 2006. Habitat surveys (WDFW), juvenile abundance estimates (Weyerhaeuser), and spawner and smolt trapping (Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe) are being conducted in all three watersheds by partner agencies as part of the larger cooperative IMW research program.

Investigators

Todd Bennett, Phil Roni, George Pess

Collaborators

Support

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington Dept. of Ecology, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, NOAA Fisheries, and University of Washington

Project Status

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