Staff statement for public hearing : emergency adjustment of Dungeness crab season, September 19, 1990

This is an exhibit prepared by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. Washington State had delayed the opening of their 1989-90 commercial crab fishery, and this delay disrupted fisheries in other states up and down the West Coast. The main focus of this report is to develop a plan in case this situation arose again in the future. Attachments to the main document include, "History and Status of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Fishery" by Darrell Demory (March, 1990); "Staff Statement on Petition to Permit a Two-Week Period for Removal of Crab Gear After the Close of the Season"; and "Summary of March 28, 1990 Oregon Crab Industry Workshop.

Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) Report : Ladd Marsh, 2001 Technical Report.

Since the mid-1980s, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has been participating in the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA's) efforts to mitigate for the negative impacts to fish and wildlife resulting from the development and operation of the 7 Columbia Basin Federal Hydropower System. BPA's mitigation obligations were formally recognized and mandated by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 and are guided by the Northwest Power Planning Council's (NWPPC's) Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. BPA funds fish and wildlife projects throughout the Basin to meet the habitat and population restorative goals and objectives outlined in the NWPPC's Fish and Wildlife Program and to fulfill its mitigation responsibilities under the Power Act. Impacts to wildlife resulting from hydrofacility construction/inundation were estimated using Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) in the mid and late 1980s and are documented in BPA' s Wildlife Loss Assessments (Rasmussen and Wright 1990,a,b,c,d) and in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lower Snake River Wildlife Habitat Compensation Evaluation (ACOE 1991). The loss assessments provided estimates of lost habitat quality and quantity for the target species selected to represent the habitat cover types impacted by hydropower construction/inundation. The NWPPC incorporated these losses into their Fish and Wildlife Program, recognizing them as the unannualized losses attributable to the construction/inundation of the federal hydropower system (NWPPC 1995 and 2000, Table 1 1-4). The HEP methodology is used by wildlife managers within the Columbia Basin to determine habitat values, expressed as Habitat Units, gained through BPA-funded mitigation project work. ODFW and the other Oregon wildlife managers (i.e., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Confederated Tribes of the Warms Springs Reservation of Oregon, Burns Paiute Tribe, and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation [CTUIR]) have been working together since 1991 to coordinate the planning, selection, and implementation of BPA-funded wildlife mitigation projects. In 1997, the Oregon wildlife managers developed a programmatic project for mitigation planning and implementation within Oregon. The Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area Additions project is one of many habitat acquisition and restoration projects proposed under the Oregon wildlife managers programmatic project that have been approved and recommended for funding by the NWPPC. The Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area Additions mitigation project will protect and restore wetland, riparian and other habitats on newly acquired parcels at ODFW's Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area (LMWA). Wildlife habitat values resulting from the acquisition and enhancement of Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area lands will contribute towards mitigating for habitat lost as a result of the development and operation of the Columbia Basin hydropower system. This report summarizes the HEP survey conducted in June 2001 to document the baseline habitat values on four parcels recently added to the Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area: the 309.66-acre Wallender property, the 375.54-acre Simonis property, the 161.07-acre Conley Lake property, and the 74.55-acre Becker property. The 2001 HEP Team was comprised of the following members and agencies: Susan Barnes (ODFW), Allen Childs (CTUIR), Tracy Hames (Yakama Indian Nation), Dave Larson (ODFW), Cathy Nowak (Cat Tracks Wildlife Consulting), and Ken Rutherford (ODFW). Results of the HEP will be used to (1) determine the pre-restoration habitat values of the project sites, (2) the number of Habitat Units to be credited to BPA for protection of habitats within the project area, (3) determine the enhancement potential of the sites, and (4) develop a habitat management plan for the area

Background Reading: Department of the Interior, 2013 Departmental Overview

18 pages (DO-5 through DO-22). Background Reading The Future of Natural Resources Policy: This forum will provide a post-election perspective on some of the challenges and opportunities that natural resources, public lands, and energy policymakers in Washington are likely to face in the next four years. An expert panel will discuss the dynamics in the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress, and how their evolving policies are likely to affect Colorado in the coming years

Background Reading: Department of the Interior, 2013 Departmental Overview

18 pages (DO-5 through DO-22). Background Reading The Future of Natural Resources Policy: This forum will provide a post-election perspective on some of the challenges and opportunities that natural resources, public lands, and energy policymakers in Washington are likely to face in the next four years. An expert panel will discuss the dynamics in the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress, and how their evolving policies are likely to affect Colorado in the coming years

The NADCA Probe, Issue 233

The Wildlife Control Industry How many times can a skunk fire their defensive secretion before they have to reload? New product Available Living with Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest is the title of a new book by Russell Link, an urban wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Background Reading: Department of Agriculture, 2013 Budget Overview

57 pages. Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Overview February 2012 Background Reading The Future of Natural Resources Policy: This forum will provide a post-election perspective on some of the challenges and opportunities that natural resources, public lands, and energy policymakers in Washington are likely to face in the next four years. An expert panel will discuss the dynamics in the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress, and how their evolving policies are likely to affect Colorado in the coming years

Okanogan Subbasin Water Quality and Quantity Report for Anadromous Fish in 2006.

Fish need water of sufficient quality and quantity in order to survive and reproduce. The list of primary water quality indicators appropriate for monitoring of anadromous fish, as identified by the Upper Columbia Monitoring Strategy, includes: discharge, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, conductivity, nitrogen, phosphorus and ammonia. The Colville Tribes Fish and Wildlife Department began evaluating these water quality indicators in 2005 and this report represents data collected from October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006. We collected empirical status and trend data from various sources to evaluate each water quality indicator along the main stem Okanogan and Similkameen Rivers along with several tributary streams. Each water quality indicator was evaluated based upon potential impacts to salmonid survival or productivity. Specific conductance levels and all nutrient indicators remained at levels acceptable for growth, survival, and reproduction of salmon and steelhead. These indicators were also considered of marginal value for monitoring environmental conditions related to salmonids within the Okanogan subbasin. However, discharge, temperature, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and pH in that order represent the water quality indicators that are most useful for monitoring watershed health and habitat changes and will help to evaluate threats or changes related to salmon and steelhead restoration and recovery. On the Okanogan River minimum flows have decreased over the last 12 years at a rate of -28.3CFS/year as measured near the town of Malott, WA. This trend is not beneficial for salmonid production and efforts to reverse this trend should be strongly encouraged. Turbidity levels in Bonaparte and Omak Creek were a concern because they had the highest monthly average readings. Major upland disturbance in the Bonaparte Creek watershed has occurred for decades and agricultural practices within the riparian areas along this creek have lead to major channel incision and bank instability. High sediment loads continue to threaten Omak and Bonaparte sub-watersheds. Major rehabilitation efforts are needed within these sub-watersheds to improve salmonid habitats. We found that for the past 12 years dissolved oxygen levels have been on a slightly downward trend during summer/fall Chinook egg incubation. Dissolved oxygen readings in early October, for summer/fall Chinook and from June through early July for summer steelhead can occasionally drop to the range from 8 to 10 mg/L and therefore warrant continued monitoring. Levels of pH represent an indicator that has little monitoring value throughout most of the subbasin. The Similkameen River drainage showed dramatic annual changes in the mean pH values and a declining trend for pH thus warranting continued monitoring. Average daily temperatures, in 2006, exceeded 25 C for eight days in July in the Okanogan River at Malott. Due to increased warm water temperatures, delays in migration have increased at a rate of 1.82 days per year over the last 10 years. Increases in water temperature can be linked to many anthropogenic activities. Increasing water temperatures within the Okanogan River watershed represent the single most limiting factor facing salmonids in main-stem habitats

Background Reading: Department of Agriculture, 2013 Budget Overview

57 pages. Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Overview February 2012 Background Reading The Future of Natural Resources Policy: This forum will provide a post-election perspective on some of the challenges and opportunities that natural resources, public lands, and energy policymakers in Washington are likely to face in the next four years. An expert panel will discuss the dynamics in the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress, and how their evolving policies are likely to affect Colorado in the coming years