Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership Habitat Restoration and Ecosystem Monitoring Programs

Estuary Partnership science team of three, including habitat restoration program coordinator Estuary Partnership, in coordination with CREST and the Science Work Group, has established a foundation for a cooperative, consensus-based approach to ecosystem restoration in the estuary Good, productive working relationships with organizations currently involved in habitat restoration – CREST, Ducks Unlimited, Columbia Land Trust, USFW, Sea Resources, LCFRB, the Corps, etc. Habitat Restoration Program Development

Science Work Group Active role in the direction of restoration planning Agencies represented from WA and OR provide technical support and guidance Monthly meetings Project review committee

Restoration Projects

Grays Bay Restoration Projects Columbia Land Trust Multiple restoration sites (in red) Restoration includes levee breaches, tidegate removal, ditch filling, and swale enhancement. Reference sites near restoration (in blue)

Lacamas Creek Chum Channel WDFW, Army Corps of Engineers This feasibility study assessed site conditions and water quality in Lacamas Creek to determine feasibility of spawning channel construction. The plans include removing existing muck and organics in the seeps and replacing them with gravels that will maximize egg-to-fry survival rates for chum salmon.

Blind Slough Tidal Reconnection CREST

Goals: Railroad Site - Install five 60-inch culverts to improve flow and fish passage. Blind Slough Levee Site – Breach the levee, install three 60-inch culverts, and install three self-regulating tidegates to improve fish passage. Product: 10 miles of channels reconnected to tidal fluctuation Blind Slough Tidal Reconnection CREST

Scappoose Bottomlands Conservation and Restoration Plan The Wetlands Conservancy Goal : Produce a tool for identifying, prioritizing and selecting restoration projects in Scappoose Bottomlands Product: Conservation and restoration plan, including property appraisals for potential land acquisition

Malarkey and Hogan Ranch Restoration Projects Scappoose Bay Watershed Council Goals: Malarkey Ranch Replacement of barriers to fish passage in tidally influenced channels of Scappoose Bottomlands Hogan Ranch Fencing and grazing plan for livestock management Reestablishment of native vegetation

Walluski River Tidal Reconnection Columbia Land Trust Goals: Planning and design for the removal of two tidegates to increase hydrologic interaction between the floodplain and the river. Tidal channel modification to restore hydrologic features of the site Re-vegetation to control non-native species.

Project Summary Over $750,000 allocated for restoration projects 8 major partnerships Completed projects will restore over 600 acres of potential habitat

Restoration Projects for FY Germany Creek, WA – land acquisition Skamakowa Creek, OR – dike breach planning and design Fort Columbia, WA – tidegate replacement planning and design Sandy River Delta, OR – revegetation and wetlands restoration Lewis and Clark River, OR – dike breach and revegetation

Restoration Project Selection Strategic Restoration Prioritization Opportunistic Restoration Project Review Committee Criteria Selected Projects Potential Project List

Project Review Criteria Monitoring Criteria Monitoring and Evaluation with Relationship to Stated Goals and Objectives Linkages to Reference Site(s) Transferability of Results Ecosystem Criteria Habitat Connectivity Areas of Historic Habitat Type Loss Improvement in Ecosystem Function Adequate Size and Shape Level of Complexity Accessibility For Target Species Implementation Criteria Use Natural Processes to Restore and Maintain Structure over Habitat Creation Community Support and Participation Potential for Self Maintenance and Certainty of Success Improvement to Function While Avoiding Impacts to Healthy Ecosystems Avoid Sites Where Irreversible Change Has Occurred Capacity of Sponsor/Partnership Project Context within Broader Management and Planning Objectives

Restoration strategies depend on site conditions, which vary by subareas Prioritization will allow an estuary approach for assigning value based on the conditions and needs of site Provides relationship and comparison of projects on the ecosystem scale Promotes efficient allocation of resources Strategic Prioritization for Habitat Restoration

Objective #1: Determine the locations and types of high quality habitats most in need of protection or preservation. Objective #2: Determine the locations and types of restoration where performance is most predictable and provides the maximum functional and species benefit. Objective #3: Determine the locations of habitats that are the most difficult or costly to restore.

Subarea Planning Units for Restoration Within the Estuary Tidal freshwater Mile Tidal freshwater Mile 46 – 105 Upper Estuary Youngs Bay Mouth Baker Bay Grays Bay Cathlamet Bay Mixing Zone

Landscape Classification System for Habitat Monitoring and Restoration Design

(Level 4) and Primary Cover Class (Level 5) Emergent Marsh Emergent Marsh Emergent Marsh Emergent Marsh Emergent Marsh (M) Emergent Marsh (M) Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Scrub-Scrub/ Forested Scrub-Scrub/ Forested Scrub-Scrub/ Forested (M) Scrub-Scrub/ Forested (M) Shallow Subtidal Slope Mud/Sand Flat Mud/Sand Flat Deep Channel (M) Scrub-Scrub/ Forested Scrub-Scrub/ Forested Unvegetated Sand(M) Unvegetated Sand(M)

Habitat Monitoring Goal: Provide a long-term data set to assess the status and trends of aquatic habitats, Including those used by endangered salmon populations, and apply these data as appropriate to action effectiveness research on estuary habitat restoration. Status Monitoring at the Landscape and estuary ecosystem scale - inventorying the estuary ecosystem with spatial datasets - establish a connectivity index and assess trends over time Status Monitoring at Estuarine habitat scale - Describe physical and biological characteristics of estuarine habitats - Describe salmon spatial and temporal distribution, species composition, age/size structure, and other metrics relevant to salmonid dependence on estuarine habitats Action effectiveness research - Create a list of reference sites that can be used for both status and trends monitoring and action effectiveness research

Phase I Pilot monitoring approach to test the unknowns What attributes are the best indicators of the status and trends of salmon in the estuary? What attributes can be monitored with existing or new geo-spatial information? What attributes demand on the ground field sampling?

Estuary Reference Sites

Conventional Pollutants Toxic Contaminants Habitat

Toxic & Conventional Pollutants Conceptual and Quantitative Ecological Risk Models (NOAA Fisheries) ID likely sources, modes and routes transport (e.g., sediment transport and deposition, trophic processes), potential exposure and uptake of toxicant by listed salmon stocks, and possible effects on survival and productivity, based on existing toxicological information. More quantitative model development supported by ongoing modeling efforts on physical habitat changes, flow, and sediment transport conducted by NOAA Fisheries Fish Ecology Division in collaboration with OSU investigators, Washington DOE studies and this projects own data.

Toxic & Conventional Pollutants Quantify the spatial distribution and the temporal variation (seasonal and annual) of contaminant concentrations in water and suspended sediment at selected locations in the Lower Columbia River. One-year water sampling program (USGS) Monthly water quality sampling at Warrendale, Morrison Street Bridge, Beaver Army Terminal Seasonal water quality sampling (high and low flow) at Columbia City and Point Adams SPMD sampling at all sites plus at the confluence of the Willamette and the Columbia

What are we looking at? Conventionals: Temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductance, turbidity, suspended sediment, and alkalinity Nutrients: Total N, Total suspended N, ammonia, nitrite, nitrite + nitrate, total P, orthophosphate, dissolved organic carbon, suspended organic carbon, and inorganic suspended carbon. Emerging contaminants: 137 pharmaceuticals, hormones, personal care products, and other waste-water contaminants Currently used pesticides: 54 insecticides, herbicides, & fungicides--low level analysis. Addl pesticides and degradates: 138 moderately used pesticides & degradates--polar compounds Trace elements in water: 18 trace elements and calcium & magnesium Suspended organic contaminants: 25 elements and total organic carbon and total carbon (including As, Se, and Hg, if sufficient sediment available) SPMD detects: 21 organchlorine pesticides, 9 PBDEs, 16 polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and 209 PCB congeners Productivity: Phytoplankton--chlorophyll a and algal species identification

Toxic & Conventional Pollutants Salmon Sampling (NOAA Fisheries) Characterize patterns of exposure for fish from different life histories and ESUs Sub-yearling Chinook June to August 2005 at Warrendale, Columbia/Willamette confluence, Morrison Street Bridge,Columbia City, Beaver Army terminal, and West Sand Island Yearling Chinook collected from Warrendale in March and from West Sand Island in April Juvenile Chum collected from West Sand Island in March.

What are we looking at? Composite Fish Tissue Samples PCB congeners DDTs Organochlorine pesticides PBDEs Whole Fish Samples PAHs will be measured from the bile of fish Vitellogenin measured from plasma of fish Genetic stock from fin clips

Habitat Monitoring Toxics Monitoring Action Effectiveness and Status and Trends Monitoring

Ecosystem Monitoring Action Effectiveness and Status and Trends Monitoring Strategic Prioritization for Habitat Restoration Restoration Projects

Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership Habitat Restoration and Ecosystem Monitoring Programs