An Overview of the Flathead Subbasin Planning Process

Northwest Power & Conservation Council

Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program The Northwest Power Act of 1980 directs the Council to develop a program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin that have been impacted by hydropower dams, and make annual funding recommendations to the Bonneville Power Administration for projects to implement the program. Revised every five years

Purpose Subbasin plans have been adopted as part of the Power Planning Council's 2000 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program and will help direct BPA funding of projects that protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife adversely impacted by the development and operation of the Columbia River hydropower system.

Organizational Structure

Parts of a Subbasin Plan Assessment Compilation and Analysis of Existing Information Inventory Identification of existing fish and wildlife related activities Management Plan Visions, objectives, and strategies

Assessment Tools We used two tools in the Assessment Aquatics QHA (Qualitative Habitat Assessment) Terrestrial TBA (Terrestrial Biome Assessment Constanza asked me to cover how we prioritized watersheds for restoration or protection

Aquatic Assessment Tool Qualitative Habitat Assessment (QHA) QHA is a way for the technical team to organize existing, already public information about the condition of the aquatic habitats relative to the pre-European condition and relate that to specific focal species (bull trout or westslope cutthroat trout). The scores are strictly qualitative. Where there’s a blue box, this is not limiting to the basin Technical experts rank watersheds for both focal species on a scale from 1 to 4, both historically and currently Riparian, channel stability, hab diversity, fine sediment, flows (high or low), O2, temp (high or low) pollutants, obstructions Assign presence or absence of focal species in each watershed for each lifestage. Assign degree of confidence to overall attribute and each HUC

Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes Volker mell volkerm@cskt.org                                                                                   8500 m Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes Volker mell volkerm@cskt.org                            

QHA results in a series of protection and restoration scores that help determine the priority for BPA-funded projects.

How we use QHA Current Aquatic Condition Ranking of the current stream-habitat conditions at the HUC-4 scale in the Flathead Subbasin for resident salmonids

How we use QHA Ranking of key stream-habitat attributes at the HUC-4 scale in the Flathead Subbasin for bull trout (can identify the most degraded attributes).

How we use QHA Identification of limiting factors by focal species in each 4th-code HUC.

Grouping into Restoration and Protection Classes Class 3.5: High Degree of Degradation Low Protection Value Class 3: Mod. To High Degree of Degradation Low to Moderate Protection Value Class 2: Low to Mod. Degree of Degradation High to Moderate Protection Value Class 1: Most Intact Stream Habitat High Protection Value Restoration = Reference - Current * LSWeight So the higher the score, the more degraded the stream, and the more important it is to the focal species.

Near Term Opportunities How we use QHA Near Term Opportunities Class 2 Waters (Low to Mod. Degree of Degradation Class 1 Waters - Intact

Terrestrial Assessment Tool Terrestrial Biome Assessment (TBA) : Is biome based: Wetland, Riparian, Grassland/Shrub, Xeric Forest, and Mesic Forest Divides the subbasin into subunit biomes (e.g. North Fork Flathead Grasslands or Mission Valley Wetlands) Rates the biomes in each of these subunits by biome-specific indices (e.g. changes in area, fire interval, exotic species, grazing, habitat diversity, and road density) and identifies primary and secondary impacts in each subunit. Result is an impact index (the current condition for wildlife relative to the historic condition) for each biome in each subunit.

How we use TBA Limiting Factors by biome

How we use TBA Prioritization of Subunits

How we use TBA Prioritization of Subunits Class 1 Subunits: 60 to 85% of pristine

Prioritization of Subunits (cont.) Class 2 Subunits: 40 to 60% of pristine

Prioritization of Subunits (cont.) Class 3 Subunits: Less than 40% of pristine

The Inventory Outline: Current Management Activities Existing Protected Areas Existing Plans Management Programs Last 5 Years of Restoration and Conservation Projects Annotated list of ongoing activities Assessment of past and current activities: how well do they address the limiting factors and what gaps are there?

The Management Plan Outline: A Vision Statement Objectives and Strategies A Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Plan An Adaptive Management Strategy Vision-consistent with F&W program Objectives must be Quantitative, Have a time frame, Linked to a limiting factor, Focal species specific, Life stage specific, Spatial