Presentation Abstract
Stream restoration projects focus on improving habitat for Pacific Salmonids in watersheds throughout the Pacific Northwest. Currently, few comprehensive tools are available for managers to mechanistically predict the improved fish growth that comes with restoration actions, such as riparian acquisitions, riparian planting or levee setbacks. Therefore, managers need tools that can predict salmonid growth potential given different decision scenarios. One approach to address the Puget Sound Partnership’s regional chinook recovery goals would be a linked stream temperature, flow, and fish bioenergetics model that predict chinook growth benefits of different remediation strategies. Considered strategies will include changes to riparian habitat and instream flows. Increasingly, it is recognized that riparian restoration also benefits salmonids through the increased terrestrial food supply. Such a modeling tool, or model-ensemble, would provide at least a two-tiered application. Screening-level predictions of stream temperatures and chinook growth might be based on currently available input data, i.e., widespread estimates from SNTemp and NHD+ model outputs, and reported food availability and diets. A second, more specific model-ensemble output based on segment specific data, much of it currently available, would require a few, relatively minor site-specific values, namely widths, depths, substrate and invertebrate drift. The effectiveness of the decision support modeling tool could be demonstrated at a handful of sites across a range of land uses and watershed sizes with currently available data. This tool would allow managers the ability to predict and compare chinook growth for current and future conditions from different remediation decisions along a specified river reach. Additionally, conducting a sensitivity analysis with the tool, or model-ensemble, will identify essential information needs for more detailed, and improved, site-specific estimates of chinook growth. Such a tool could scale up to generate region-wide maps of potential chinook growth as more Salish Sea-wide temperature, flow, habitat and drift data becomes available.
Session Title
Modeling Change in the Transboundary Salish Sea
Keywords
Chinook, Bioenergetics, Flow, Temperature, Restoration
Conference Track
SSE15: Data and Information Management
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2018 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE15-506
Start Date
5-4-2018 2:15 PM
End Date
5-4-2018 2:30 PM
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Stream restoration--Monitoring--Washington (State)--Puget Sound; Riparian restoration--Washington (State)--Puget Sound; Pacific salmon--Washington (State)--Puget Sound; Fish habitat--Improvement--Washington (State)--Puget Sound; Decision support systems--Washington (State)--Puget Sound
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Puget Sound (Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Included in
Fresh Water Studies Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons
Chinook habitat restoration decision support tool- Identifying chinook salmon habitat restoration effectiveness based on temperature, flow, and bioenergetics models
Stream restoration projects focus on improving habitat for Pacific Salmonids in watersheds throughout the Pacific Northwest. Currently, few comprehensive tools are available for managers to mechanistically predict the improved fish growth that comes with restoration actions, such as riparian acquisitions, riparian planting or levee setbacks. Therefore, managers need tools that can predict salmonid growth potential given different decision scenarios. One approach to address the Puget Sound Partnership’s regional chinook recovery goals would be a linked stream temperature, flow, and fish bioenergetics model that predict chinook growth benefits of different remediation strategies. Considered strategies will include changes to riparian habitat and instream flows. Increasingly, it is recognized that riparian restoration also benefits salmonids through the increased terrestrial food supply. Such a modeling tool, or model-ensemble, would provide at least a two-tiered application. Screening-level predictions of stream temperatures and chinook growth might be based on currently available input data, i.e., widespread estimates from SNTemp and NHD+ model outputs, and reported food availability and diets. A second, more specific model-ensemble output based on segment specific data, much of it currently available, would require a few, relatively minor site-specific values, namely widths, depths, substrate and invertebrate drift. The effectiveness of the decision support modeling tool could be demonstrated at a handful of sites across a range of land uses and watershed sizes with currently available data. This tool would allow managers the ability to predict and compare chinook growth for current and future conditions from different remediation decisions along a specified river reach. Additionally, conducting a sensitivity analysis with the tool, or model-ensemble, will identify essential information needs for more detailed, and improved, site-specific estimates of chinook growth. Such a tool could scale up to generate region-wide maps of potential chinook growth as more Salish Sea-wide temperature, flow, habitat and drift data becomes available.
