In March 2000,
the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), in a cooperative
effort with the Asotin Conservation District (ACD), planned a baseline
monitoring project for George and Tenmile Creeks in Asotin County.
The partners agreed that WDFW would also survey Couse Creek, if there
was enough time. Tenmile and Couse creeks are tributaries of the Snake
River, upstream from the town of Asotin, Washington, and George Creek
is a tributary of Asotin Creek, also a Snake River tributary.
In the early 1990s,
George Creek was specifically excluded from the Asotin Creek Model
Watershed Project Master Plan because of lack of knowledge about the
drainage and perceptions of poor habitat and lack of use by spring
chinook salmon. Summer steelhead have been presumed by WDFW to be
using George, Tenmile and Couse creeks and their major tributaries
for spawning and rearing, but no data existed to verify their distribution
or abundance. Snake River summer steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were
listed as "threatened"under the Endangered Species Act in
August 1997.
WDFW began the
project in April 2000 in George Creek, Tenmile Creek, Couse Creek,
and their major tributaries to collect baseline fish and habitat data.
The specific objectives were to perform baseline monitoring for salmonids,
by 1) conducting steelhead spawning surveys and summer electrofishing
surveys to determine distribution and relative abundance in the drainages,
2) deploying and recovering temperature data loggers, and 3) collecting
periodic measurements of stream flows during spring, summer, and fall
months.
Information collected
during this project will be valuable for management decisions for
those drainages and possibly to generate habitat restoration projects
to enhance the existing salmonid populations. The information collected
will soon be used in watershed planning and salmonid management. Current
needs for this information include the legislatively required Limiting
Factors Report for WRIA 35 (Snake R. Basin) due in 2001, or early
2002, and the Northwest Power Planning Council (NPPC) and Columbia
Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority's (CBFWA) required Subbasin Summaries
(due in April 2001). Information from this survey will be used in
the Snake River Fishery Management and Evaluation Plan (FMEP) that
will be completed by WDFW within the next month or two and submitted
as required by NMFS. The WDFW’s Salmonid Stock Inventory (SaSI)
and Salmon and steelhead Inventory and Assessment Program (SSHIAP)
will incorporate this information into their fish stock and habitat
assessements within the next year or so.
