Identification of Native Fish Conservation Areas in the Upper Snake River Basin

Richard N. Williams1, Daniel C. Dauwalter2, Russell F. Thurow3, David P. Philipp4, and Jack E. Williams5 1Federation of Fly Fishers, Eagle, ID; 2Trout Unlimited, Boise, ID; 3US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research

Station, Boise, ID; 4University of Illinois, Champaign, IL; 5Trout Unlimited, Medford, OR Introduction The Native Fish Conservation Area (NFCA) concept was introduced by Williams et al. (2011) as a framework for cooperative watershed management focused on the long-term persistence of native fish communities while allowing for compatible uses. The Upper Snake River basin has 27 native fish species, including three native trout species: bull trout, redband [rainbow] trout, and Yellowstone cutthroat trout (including the fine-spotted form). Non-native species, land uses (e.g., grazing, mining), water use and development, energy development, and climate change are threats to extant fish communities.

Objective Identify watersheds with high-value native trout and non-game species that have potential to be managed as Native Fish Conservation Areas.

Methods 1. Assemble native trout abundance and distribution data, and model

the occurrence probability of non-game species.

Acknowledgments Funding by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Trout Unlimited, and Patagonia World Trout Initiative. IDFG, IDEQ, ODFW, WGFD, USEPA, USGS, BOR, USFS, HFF, FTR and others provided data.

Results

A Contrast of Two Potential NFCAs Jarbidge River – The Jarbidge River has bull trout, redband trout, and 11 non-game fish species (documented). The headwaters are protected in the Jarbidge Wilderness (1964, Humboldt National Forest), and the mainstem is protected by the Bruneau-Jarbidge Rivers Wilderness (2009, BLM). Management opportunities include abandoned mine reclamation, grazing, and other impacts. A shovel brigade was organized to boycott road closures due to bull trout in 2000 (see photo below).

28’ memorial for the Jarbidge Shovel Brigade (Left), Jarbidge River canyon in the Bruneau – Jarbidge Rivers Wilderness (Top center), northern leatherside chub – an Idaho state protected species – from a Goose Creek tributary (Bottom center), and a private property marker in the Goose Creek basin.

Species weights (Left panel) and conceptual model of analysis that was used to rank subwatersheds (HUC 12) based on native fish conservation value (Right panel).

Subwatershed ranks based on native trout distribution and abundance, occurrence probabilities of native non-game species, % protected land, and subwatershed connectivity.

Bull trout, Yellowstone cutthroat trout large-spotted form (A); Yellowstone cutthroat trout fine-spotted form and redband trout (B); bluehead sucker occurrences in 1296 fish survey locations (C); and predicted occurrence probability of bluehead sucker from a random forest model (D).

Native trout distributions and land ownership maps for the Jarbidge River (A) and Goose Creek (B) in the Upper Snake River basin.

Trout distributions and abundance

% Protected Lands

Non-game species models

Spp 1Spp 2Spp n

:

Subwatersheds (HUC 12)

Subwatershed connectivity

Up down1 32 3: :

NQP curvesConvert to

300-m grid

Convert to 300-m grid

Convert to 300-m grid

Rescaled as:cost= (100 –%protected)

Species weightsSpp wt.1 0.42 1.0: :

GIS data pre-processing

ZONATION input files

ZONATION automated pre-processing

Iterative ZONATION ranking

Output Subwatershed rankings (0 – 100)

Additive Benefit

Function

100%0%

Cost

Bull.troutY.cutthroat.troutFine.spotted.YCTRedband.troutMountain.whitefishLeopard.daceSpeckled.daceLongnose.daceRedside.shinerN.leatherside.chubUtah.chubChiselmouthN.pikeminnowBluehead.suckerMountain.suckerUtah.suckerBridgelip.suckerLargescale.suckerMottled.sculpinPaiute.sculpinShorthead.sculpinWood.River.sculpin

Rescaled species weights

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Native troutNative non-game

2. Identify existing protected lands.

Land ownership (A), and Gap Analysis Program (GAP) land protection status (B) in the Upper Snake River basin.

3. Rank subwatersheds using native trout abundance and distribution, non-game occurrence probabilities (differentially weighted), protected land status, and subwatershed connectivity.

Goose Creek – Goose Creek has almost no formally protected lands but heads in the Sawtooth National Forest and contains the western-most population of Yellowstone cutthroat trout and strongholds of bluehead sucker, northern leatherside chub, and other native non-game species. The stream corridor is predominantly private lands (see photo below).