1. Where the Rivers Meet: Salvelinus confluentus Migrations in the Upper Mid-Columbia River Mark Nelson USFWS Mid-Columbia River FRO WA/BC AFS AGM March 29, 2016 Disclaimer: Any opinions and conclusions presented in this presentation are those of the author and may not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Photograph courtesy of Chelan PUD

2. Bull Trout Recovery Plan Listed 1999 Recovery Plan 2015 Six recovery units No demographic data No recovery number target Threats management assessments for recovery Need information to assess Ladder counts, radio- telemetry, PIT tags, genetics

3. Upper Core Areas of the Mid-Columbia Recovery Unit 3 Core Areas18 Populations

4. Columbia River Critical Habitat: FMO Foraging, migrating, and overwintering habitat Mainstem Columbia River from John Day Dam to Chief Joseph Dam Upper Mid Columbia (Rock Island Dam to Chief Joseph Dam) connects Wenatchee, Entiat, and Methow Core areas. Priest Rapids Dam and Wanapum Dam have no major tributaries but are in migratory corridor and reservoirs provide FMO.

5. Pre-listing Information?

6. Historic Counts of Bull Trout at Rock Island and Tumwater Dams 1935-1967 Rock Island Dam 1950sFish Counter 1945Counting Board 1945Tumwater Dam 1937 10 Year Cyclic Pattern

7. Counts of Bull Trout at Rock Island Dam and Tumwater Dam: 1935 – 1967 and 1998 - 2015 10 Year Cyclic Pattern

8. Ladder Counts of Bull Trout at Mid-Columbia River Hydroelectric Dams Data: Columbia River DART Mean Annual Count Annual Count 1998-2015

9. Data: Columbia River DART

10. Spawned 3x in upper Entiat Code 151 Tagged at RIS 05-18-2006 TL = 570 mm Overwinter Location 6/11/2007 (18.9 d) 6/14/2007 (2.41 d) 5/27/2008 (2.13 d) 5/20/2008 (0.6 d) Photographs courtesy of Chelan PUD Radio-telemetry 2005 – 2009: RRH overall median project migration time = 3.84 d (n = 41 bull trout) Stevenson et al. 2009

11. n = 15 n = 71 Subbasin DestinationSpawning Tributary Selection

12. Migration Patterns Entiat Core Area 2 populations. Relatively simple migrations. Little overwintering in tributaries. Most return to Columbia River for FMO.

13. Migration Patterns Methow Core Area 9 populations. More complex and longer migrations (up to 220 km). Interactions with dry reaches in Twisp, upper Methow, Lost, and Goat. May overwinter in Methow. Some may never use the Columbia River.

14. Migration Patterns Wenatchee Core Area 7 populations. Icicle, Lt. Wenatchee, and White- no confirmed use of Columbia River yet. Lake Wenatchee and Chiwawa River unique allacustrine migration. Many may overwinter in lower Wenatchee, esp. Chiwaukum bull trout. Lower Icicle Creek- many populations use in late summer.

15. Spawning Areas Methow Core Area Enter spawning tributaries by mid-July. In spawning reaches by late July. Exit spawning reaches in mid-Sept to late Oct. In mainstem Methow or Columbia by Nov and Dec. May be isolated above dry reaches until spring.

16. Bull Trout Code 81 Spawned in Entiat River GSI assigned to Twisp River 1 st documented occurrence Nearest neighbor analysis Connectivity and Gene Flow Between Populations and Core Areas

17. Columbia River FMO Telemetry studies 2005-2008 CCPUD, DCPUD, USFWS Mobile tracking Overwinter locations in Columbia n = 67 radio-tagged bull trout Avg n detections = 3 (range 1-13) Individuals from all 3 core areas Some return to same location Others “relocate” between years Adults overwinter for 200-240 days Subadults can spend over 1000 days maturing in the Columbia

18. Downstream Passage of Adult Tagged Bull Trout at Mid-Columbia Dams CCPUD telemetry: 56 events - no mortality documented in 2005-2009. Routes at Rocky Reach Dam: powerhouse (35); unknown (8); spillway (2); surface collector (2). Routes at Rock Island Dam: unknown (6); powerhouse (2); spillway (1).

19. Subadult Bull Trout?

20. Acknowledgments Chelan County PUD BioAnalysts, Inc. Douglas County PUD LGL Environmental, Ltd. Grant County PUD USFWS MCRFRO Who says Bull Trout can’t jump? By Robes Parrish USFWS