1. Case Study: Idaho Naturally Produced Chinook with Focus on Middle Fork Salmon River Sharon W. Kiefer Idaho Dept. Fish and Game October, 2012

3. Middle Fork Salmon River Attributes: ►Free-flowing river with many tributaries, flows about 104 miles, ►A tributary to the Salmon River, ►One of the original 8 Wild and Scenic Rivers (1968) ►Elevation ranges 7,000 feet to 3,900 feet ►Bear Valley and Marsh Creek converge to form the mainstem ►Located in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness (1980) - Frank Church Wilderness encompasses a total of 2,366,757 acres - Second largest unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System in the Lower 48

4. Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook ESU IdahoIdaho (cont.)Oregon & Washington South Fk Salmon MPGUpper Salmon MPGLower Snake MPG South Fk MainstemUpper Salmon MainstemTucannon R. *Secesh R.*Valley Cr.Asotin Cr. (ext) East Fk./Johnson Cr.Yankee ForkGr. Ronde/Imnaha MPG Little Salmon R.East Fork Salmon R.Upper Gr. Ronde R. *Middle Fk Salmon MPG*Lower MainstemCatherine Cr. *Marsh Cr.Pahsimeroi R.Minam R. *Bear Valley Cr.*Lemhi R.Lookingglass Cr. (ext.) *Sulphur Cr.*North Fk. Salmon R.Lostine/Wallowa R. *Upper Mainstem MFPanther Cr. (ext.)Wenaha R. *Loon Cr.Clearwater MPG not-listedImnaha R. *Camas Cr.Big Sheep Cr. (ext.) *Big Cr. *Lower Mainstem MF *Chamberlain Cr.* Unsupplemented

5. Sp/Su Chinook Salmon River Sp/Su Chinook MPGs SF Salmon, MF Salmon, Up. Salmon

6. WILD Fish: Middle Fork Salmon River Sp/Su Chinook Native, No hatchery history, naturally produced NATURAL Fish: Clearwater Basin Sp/Su Chinook Native or non-native, hatchery history, naturally produced IDFG Adopted MFSR Wild Fish Policy 1985

7. Monitoring Infrastructure ▪3 Smolt Traps: Marsh, Bear Valley, Big creeks ▪Video Adult Weir: Bear Valley Creek ▪Pit Tag Array: Big Creek ▪Redd Counts and Carcass Recovery ▪Juvenile PIT Tagging ▪Genetic Sampling ▪Snorkel Trend Surveys ▪Genetic Stock ID at Lower Granite Dam State, Tribal, Federal Contributors

8. Lower Granite Dam Runsize

9. Smolt to Adult Return Rate

10. Smolt to Adult Return Comparison of Snake and Mid-Col. Chinook

15. Augmenting MFSR Redds with Adult Abundance = Genetic Stock Identification (GSI)Year GSI-MFSR (95%CI) LGR-Total Wild 2010 4,527 (3,184- 5,708) 27,664 2011 3,948 (NA) 3,948 (NA)26,673

16. SUMMARY Run-size of W/N & H - correlated Smolt-to-adult returns (SARs) of W/N & H – similar range & correlated Mid-Columbia W/N SARs >> Snake W/N SARs Salmon River redd count trends Decline since 1950s & 1960s W and N (hatchery influenced) trends similar since hatchery programs began in 1980s Middle Fork Salmon comprise large portion of wild – similar trend Natural origin spawner trends are similar in Wild and Hatchery influenced populations